Fort Resembol
by RebbieChan
Summary: Takes place after the 2003 anime, includes aspects of the manga, ignores movie. Roy returns after almost two years of solitude to find Amestris in a state he never thought he would see. Royai.
1. The Breaking Record

**Fort Resembol: Prologue:**

**The Breaking Record**

Riza awoke in the darkness feeling cold. She didn't have to look to confirm that he wasn't there. Still she did, opening her eyes and staring at the empty sheets until she was able to gain enough sense to feel alarm instead of this silent pain. There was no time to think about this loss. This meant more than one thing.

Yes, Roy had left her, but because of that the battle- No, war- would begin.

She cursed his idiocy while forcing herself to move and get dressed. No, he did not know that his act of selfishness would start this war. He was too drowned in his own self misery that he didn't see what was going on around him. He never knew that he was the only thing keeping the revolutionaries in power, or at least making them appear to be in power. It was really all a façade. It had worked perfectly.

A quick glance out the window proved worthy, soldiers had surrounded the apartment waiting for her to make her move. "They were quicker than I thought," she muttered. _Godamnit._ None of this would have happened if he had listened to her, how many times had she hinted and warned him that this was happening!

With fleeting hope she picked up her phone. Nothing. The wires must have been cut. _Fucking idiot._ If he would have just listened to her! Heard her…Noticed her…It was much easier to blame him than admit that she had fault in this too. She had failed in saving him from his depression. She had _failed_.

She shook the feelings off. Riza may have failed him, but she would not fail her country.

Her guns were in their holsters, belts of ammo were strapped on, and the bottle rockets were tucked under one arm. The only thing she was missing was a good plan. "Hey God? If you're out there, let me live long enough to get the message out, okay?" She laughed to herself, but the attempt to make herself feel better didn't actually help at all.

Opening the window, she suddenly felt grateful the she lived on the second to top floor. Riza positioned herself on the ledge and shielded her eyes from the morning sun, spying the ledge of the next window above. Too far away, she would have to jump to it and pull herself up one-handed. Instead, she sidled awkwardly to the next window to the right and again until she came to the fire escape, the only one built because the owners were too cheap to make more. She swung herself over the railing and started climbing up the ladder, happy she hadn't dropped one of the rockets and that no one had seen her yet.

Riza set the rockets down on the roof, keeping one propped up against the ledge as she searched her pockets for a lighter. "If I came all this way and forgot it-! Here!" She brought the lighter to the fuse and clicked it, sending the rocket screaming into the air. Ignoring the shouts from below, she grabbed another and shot it off before peering over the edge.

The soldiers were entering the building. It was five floors, she still had time. Next, she scanned the skies, hoping for a returning shot. _Someone_ must have heard her. As she readied the third rocket it was confirmed.

Blazing red tore through the sky to the right. Then a green shot up to the left. More allies would see those shots and send up there own until everyone would know what was happening.

She stood up, dropping the lighter and third rocket, and watched this triumph spread. The moment of satisfaction lasted only seconds, knowing the direness of the situation. Drawing her favorite handgun from it's holster, Riza stepped backwards to the center of the roof. As she moved past the stairwell the sound of hurried footsteps pounding up towards her echoed faintly. They would be there in mere seconds. She glanced at the door before training her eyes on the roof of the next building over, glaring at it as if it were an enemy, the gap between rooftops appeared to be just a slit. Breaking into a sprint the slit grew larger until it seemed huge, ready to engulf her and pull her down as she soared above the expanse that disappeared completely in the next second. The corners of her mouth tilted slightly upwards, with bent knees and arms stretched out in front of her for balance, she had made a perfect landing.

With no time to waste, she charged towards the next gap. Just as she reached the edge, the door of her building's stairwell burst open. "There she is!" _Bang! Bang! Bang!_ The sound of gunfire jolted her and screwed up her jump. She landed hard into the ledge, rolling forward to keep herself from slipping off. In a fluid movement she went from rolling to jogging backwards and facing the soldiers. The closest she shot in the leg, the next was hit in the shoulder, just above the heart. They clutched their wounds as more soldiers streamed out. The back of her foot hit the ledge. "Surrender now, lieutenant." One of them ordered, Riza counted the stars on his uniform and saw that he was a major and presumed he was the leader of this squadron. After spying his nametag she spoke, taking a step up onto the ledge.

"Major Nelson, you must have not done your homework like all the other good little officers," she spoke in a condescending tone, playing on the fact that she was at least five years older than him. He wore the silver chain marking him as a state alchemist and she was implying that he did not deserve his rank, Nelson glared at her. "You really don't know who you're dealing with if you think I'd give up that easily."

"There's nowhere for you to go," he spoke through gritted teeth, annoyed at his adversary.

Riza simply tilted her head to the side and gave him a disappointed look before taking the final step backwards off the edge of the building. Unbeknownst to the soldiers, she landed safely a few feet below on another fire escape. She couldn't help but snicker as she heard them gasp in surprise.

"Oh my God, did she actually do that?"

"Major, what do we do now?"

Nelson's voice squeaked a bit as he shakily gave out his orders. "W-well? What are you waiting for, go down there and see if she survived!"

While waiting for the sound of their boots to fade away, she mulled over what had happened. Even though she had shot two of his men, the major had not shown any real signs of aggression. What benefit would the Loyalists have in keeping her alive? The fact that she could not find an answer bothered her on the way down into the city's streets. It wasn't as if she was the head of the Rebellion, that was Colonel Mustang, and she wasn't second or third either. Actually, the only real credit she got was being a liaison to the Colonel and seeing as that turned out terribly, all she was was her rank.

_And what use is a lieutenant to them?_ She shook herself. There was no time to think, by now everyone in the Rebellion would be flooding out of Central to the many previously constructed hideouts. That also meant that many of the enemy would be out to stop them. In seconds the capital would change from a city to a battlefield.

Riza found herself on the sidewalk next to the escape, the soldiers from before could come out her building's door any moment now. She glanced around the area with familiarity for the best route. _You're running out of time!_ The 'best' route didn't matter, this city was a rat trap regardless the path taken.

Breaking into a run, she passed through a four-way before ducking behind a building across the street. Another quick glance around before darting out again. The streets were so quiet and empty, even though that was normal for this early in the morning it added an eerie effect.

Look. Run. Hide. Repeat.

Before she had been designated as a sniper, Riza was a ground soldier in Ishbal. _Look. Run. Hide Repeat._ It's always the little things that bring back the memories.

A sudden terror beat through her chest as if every shadow could and would jump out to take her life. But a soldier had to stay calm. 'Shellshock' didn't exist. And how important was just one life anyway?

_But what about two?_

Look. Run. Hide. Repeat.

Of course, there was always the possibility that an intrusion would make it's way into the cycle.

The sound of boots hitting pavement interrupted the start of the 'repeat' process. Riza readied her handgun but before whoever it was came into view another's gun fired. A limp body fell to the ground next to her as if he had been standing right at the corner. He wasn't wearing a uniform, he was in the Rebellion. Riza turned the corner, surprising the uniformed soldier who had felled her comrade. Soon he joined the Rebel in the alley. Revenge was anything but sweet.

Gunfire. The faraway shots echoed around the empty city. Yet the one that sounded from her own gun made no noise to her ears. Her eyes widened, her always steady hand shook. "Damn it." It wasn't like she had ever _wanted_ to kill again but it was in her blood, it was what she knew how to do and she would always do, for…_him_ and and, and for what? Revenge? Her country? To Hell with her country, did anybody actually care?

Riza closed her eyes and pressed her open hand against her forehead. "It's not like I'm fighting _children_ this time." She was fighting for the freedom of everyone who lived here and against dictatorship and conspiracy.

She laughed. "Here I am, freaking over killing a soldier that would have done the same to me when I didn't even bat an eye over Archer with Roy in danger." Of course. Roy. She would do anything for him. And this, emptiness, was the result.

"_But what about two?_" This curse, was the result.

_I'm pathetic._

She sighed and started off again. This time was filled more with the 'looking' and 'hiding' aspects; the streets were filling of not only more soldiers but also of civilians to get hit in the crossfire. The only possitive thing about civilians was their cars; if she could hijack a car, getting out of Central would be easy.

Riza peered around the dumpster that she was currently hiding behind, searching for any unlucky person with a car.

"If ye shall look then ye shall find." She whispered, spying a car parked across the street. _Or something like that._

"There she is!" _Crap._ Riza ducked back behind the dumpster as she heard rushed footsteps moving closer, drawing her gun. A young woman came into view, taking her by surprise. The two locked eyes for the briefest moment; this woman was not a soldier, her eyes were calling out for help. In the next moment two young male soldiers caught up to her. They roughly grabbed at her arms and waist before noticing Riza stuck getting up from sitting too long.

_I was too slow, s_he thought as one of the soldiers pointed a gun at her.

A flash of bright blue-white light came from the sky and something large extended down, hitting the ground hard between her and the soldiers. A small boy, clad in black and a bright red cloak landed beside it. _Edward…?_ He turned to face her. "Lieutenant Hawkeye! If I knew you were here, I wouldn't have had to come!"

"Alphonse…" He clapped his hands together and pressed them against the pillar. The light appeared again for a moment as the stone became a knife in each of his hands. In the next moment they were used to knock the soldier to the ground-he wasn't going to be getting up for a while.

"Thank you." The woman bowed before running off, glancing back and forth between Riza and Alphonse.

"You're welcome miss!" He called after her.

Riza smiled. Even though Alphonse was trying so hard to be Edward, he was still so much himself. "What are you doing in Central at a time like this?" She asked.

"Teacher kicked me out of the house actually…" He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "So I thought I'd ask Colonel Mustang to teach me until she takes me back, but it seems like I just missed him, huh?"

"You did." Her smile faded.

"So, what do we do now?" Alphonse looked up at her earnestly.

"What do you mean?"

"Aren't we going to try and get the Colonel back?"

_So naïve… _"If only it were that simple," she sighed.

"Why can't it be?" He challenged. "You're _scared_ aren't you, that you'll see him and he won't be who he was. But once he sees what's going on, he'll bounce right back again!" His fists pumped into the air in excitement. "I don't remember either of you…" His eyes drifted to the side. "but I know that you guys can make it through anything!" Al declared, nodding his head to affirm his belief.

Riza ran her hand through her hair and shook her head. She knew there was one thing she could say that would bring Roy running back home. "Alright. Alphonse, I need to get to a phone booth, could you make sure I have enough time for me to make my call?"

"Yes, ma'am!" He saluted.

Sneaking through the city with Alphonse was much less monotonous and familiar than how it was when she was alone. With him there it wasn't simply meaningless survival, it was protection. She had to protect him, he was only fourtee- eleven. He was only eleven now.

"Lieutenant, I could do one of two things." He said, peering around her to get a good view of the phone booth. "Either I make a dome around it while you make your call and draw everyone's attention to us, or draw less attention by just standing guard outside but you'd be less guarded."

"Attention is a bad thing right now."

"So number two then."

A quick scan of the area told her the coast was clear. "Let's go." Riza slipped out of the shadows and blinked in the blindingly bright light of early morning. She always depended on her sight to keep her safe but now it was like going without, for a second the fear began to settle in again.

She shut the booth's door behind her to have the feeling morph into dread. _Am I really going to do this?_ Was she going to beg like the pathetic little _bitch_ she felt she was? It paralyzed her. She wouldn't do it. She _couldn't_ do it.

A flutter of red appeared in the corner of her eye. This wasn't about her. _I have to do this._

Her hands shook as she reached for the phone. _Click. Whrrr. _Came the sound as she dialed the numbers. _Click. Whrrr._

_Click. Whrrr._

* * *

Click. Whrrr.

"_Roy?" Riza's voice was hoarse. Her head hurt. Where was she?_

Click. Whrrr.

"_-Best I could but-…I know." Was that…His voice? "We're near sector three…Alright, thanks. Bye."_

Click. Click. Click. Whhhrrrr.

"_Roy?" She tried opening her eyes. The dim light blinded her, her head spun and suddenly there was so much pain shooting from her back. She felt herself jerk upwards, adding to the searing pain, and convulse._

"_Riza!" Hands gingerly laid on her arms. "You need to lie down."_

_It _was_ him. She blinked her tear filled eyes._

Click. Whrrr.

A broken record.

* * *

_Click. Whrrr. Beep. Ring! Ring!_ "Briggs main office, Sergeant Doves speaking." Riza shook herself.

"This is Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye calling from an outside line. Patch me through to General Roy Mustang."

"Do you mean former General, C-"

"Yes." She snapped.

"Your code?"

"Lucy-runner-horns-first-over-Vance-eagle." Riza tapped her foot impatiently as he asked her to repeat it.

"I'm sorry Lieutenant but Mr. Mustang isn't taking any calls." _Bastard!_

"Then let me talk to General Armstrong." She ordered through gritted teeth.

"I'll put you on hold for a momen-"

"Patch her through NOW!" It didn't matter that she was being pushy. Her patience went only so far and it had already been worn dangerously thin.

"Y-yes ma'am!" She didn't even get the chance to feel satisfied at probably making the kid wet himself. Her mood was only worsening as time wore on.

"Hawkeye?" The esteemed General's voice sounded surprised.

"General, could you please tell your secretary or whatever to connect me to Mustang's line." Riza calmed herself as she spoke to the higher ranking officer. She would never get what she wanted from her without being polite.

"That dumb-ass doesn't have one," Olivier explained, "is it important?"

"I wouldn't be calling if it wasn't."

"True. How about you give me the message and I'll relay it to him." This was it. It was on the tip of her tongue but the thought of saying it out loud…Her cheeks flushed and her jaw dropped, audibly gaping. "Well?"

"Ah, I-I…" It wasn't simply embarrassing but pathetic. She was completely ashamed…and she knew he would hate her for it. Her eyes squinted shut. That day…it had ruined everything. Not only that, but it was the reason he had left in the first place. He hadn't only given up on himself, he had given up on _her._ It was ironic that the event that caused him to leave would result in the reason he would come back.

"Spit it out Lieutenant!"

"I'M PREGNANT!" Riza's face grew hot at the realization of what she had just said - shouted more like it. "I-it's his." She quietly added, knowing that the general had probably already assumed it anyway.

A silence screamed over the line that seemed to continue on indefinitely. Finally, a quiet response sounded in her ear. "You and I both know that it would be for the best to keep the father's identity to yourself." She knew Olivier was right. What she had dreaded was hearing it out loud. "I'm sorry."

With a click the line went dead. As empty tears ran down her cheeks she realized that she should have used that time to warn Briggs of the danger going on all over the country. If Central had it's way then they would be kept in the dark as long as possible. But at that moment, she didn't care. At that moment all she wanted to do was curl up in bed, hold Hayate and cry into his warm fur.

"Um, lieutenant…Time's ran out." She heard Alphonse say. He wasn't speaking very loud. _He heard every word._ Riza lifted her head to notice the soldiers coming towards them.

She took a pistol from it's holster and forcibly knocked open the door with her free hand. "Damnit, I want a tub of ice-cream!"

Alphonse turned to her with a smile. "That's the spirit! There's always something to fight for!"

The soldiers began pointing and shouting at them, raising their guns. "Right, lets go." They turned and sprinted back to the alley they had been hiding in before, just avoiding a barrage of bullets aimed at them.

Alphonse turned, clapped his hands and transmuted the ground into a wall. "That should prevent anyone from following."

_BOOM!_ The wall crumbled before them, debris clogging their lungs. The shadows of their pursuers were coming closer.

The two ran in the opposite direction. But if these guys were serious enough to use grenades to chase them down, why didn't they just fire at them?

Riza glanced over her shoulder. _They're fast!_ They were gaining on them. She turned to face forward again and saw that they were running straight into a dead end. "Alphonse!"

"Already on it!" His hands clapped together with a flash of light.

"Stop him!" One of the soldiers shouted as another aimed towards Al.

"Watch out!" Riza shoved him out of the way just in time to avoid a bullet that zoomed by right where his head had been. Anger grew inside of her. Alphonse was just a kid. He had nothing to do with any of this. They tried to kill him, and they call themselves soldiers? She turned towards them, raising her gun at level with their's.

Alphonse blinked and pushed himself from the ground, His head spinning from it's impact against the wall. He heard voices that he wasn't familiar with, they spoke with cocky jest. _Blam!_ A gun went off. He sat up and blinked again, seeing one of the soldiers fall to the ground. Blood was seeping from the man's chest. He was dead. Al's eyes widened in surprise and slowly moved his gaze to Riza.

"Now we're really going to mess you up!" One of them shouted. She didn't seem to care. _Blam!_ She fired again before a series of empty clicking noises came from her gun. There were no more bullets.

"Shit." _Blam! Blam! Blam!_ One hit her left shoulder, another hit her right arm and the last pierced her foreleg, bringing her down on her knees.

Alphonse glared at them, jumping to his feet and clapping his hands. "Someone hold him!" Riza, halfway through loading another round, started towards him. Al winced at the pain of a man twisting his arms behind his back and saw one of them grab her by them arm. She knocked him away, but she was surrounded.

"Lieutenant!" Her gun fell to the ground and spun out of reach. Once she staggered to her feet, she was only knocked to the ground again. Alphonse struggled against his captor but another soldier came over to help his comrade.

The two of them held him off effectively. He couldn't move as they turned him around to face the others. Her could barely see her but he knew that two of them held down her arms. Three others surrounded.

For a moment Alphonse got a look of her face. She was terrified. From the corner of his eye he saw movement while her face contorted in a scream.

He didn't know what was happening but all of a sudden she was screaming and fighting like he had never seen. But nothing worked they were still all over her…on top of her…he was shaking…he was scared.

"Stop it!" He started screaming too. She was hurt. "Stop it!" His voice hurt. His head throbbed as he screamed again and again.

They wouldn't listen to him. They kept hurting her. He didn't know what to do. "Please!" Tears fell from his eyes and they fell from hers too.

Alphonse closed his eyes. He didn't want to watch anymore.

* * *

_Their panting breaths was all that she could hear. Softly, she whispered. "You don't have to keep worrying about the past, you have me now."_

_Roy instantly moved away from her, a glare forming. "Is that what this was about?" He was pissed. "To get me to stay?"_

_She blinked in surprise. "N-no, Roy you know how I feel."_

"_I can always tell when you're lying." His countenance changed back from anger to the depression he usually wore. Riza couldn't protest because he was right. It hadn't only been for love. "Why do you care so much about fulfilling every one of the party's wishes?"_

"_It was _your_ dream! _You_ are the head of the party and _you_ are the one who should be helping our politics not me!" He couldn't seriously forget all that for the sake of argument. She was growing defensive._

"_Screw politics! Oh, wait, I just did." He spat._

_She brought her hand down hard on his cheek. He had gone too far. "Do you really not care anymore?" She demanded. _

"_Can your 'politics' bring back the dead?"_

"_No they can't and neither can you! You don't even know if he's dead or not!"_

"_That's not the point! What I'm saying is what can the government do for the people?"_

"_That's what we're trying to fix!" She didn't know how it happened, all of a sudden they were on opposite sides of the room, screaming at each other. This wasn't what was supposed to happen. After a while she didn't even know what they were arguing about, then all they were doing was calling each other names and after that they were arguing about the other's flaws. It was so…stupid! "Fine!" She finally said. "Do whatever the hell you want!"_

_He almost looked hurt as she said it. What did he expect? She wasn't going to keep this up, it wasn't worth it. She turned away from him to deliver the final blow. "I was wrong about you."_

_Less than a month later and he was gone._

* * *

"Lieutenant!" Riza opened her eyes to see Alphonse looking down on her. "Are you alright?" His eyes were glazed with worry.

"How did…?" Her hoarse voice caught in her throat at the sight in front of her. Alchemical spikes protruded at awkward angles from the walls, piercing the bloody corpses of the soldiers. She gazed back at Alphonse and noticed blood that was not his own splattered across his face and clothes. He had a look in his eyes, a look that she saw every time she looked into a mirror.

"C'mon lieutenant, we better get going." He helped her to her feet before asking. "Where exactly are we going anyway?"

"There's a base in Resembol."

* * *

**A/N: **Re uploaded this chap :D**  
**


	2. What Happened to the World I Called Home

**Chapter One:**

**What has happened to this world I called home**

_What am I doing?_ Roy couldn't help but think as another tree branch hit him in the face.

"Sorry General! Again…" The young boy of thirteen called back to him. He had come to the former general only days before, asking if he would come with him. And how could Roy say no? Alphonse was the spitting image of his brother. Maybe the younger brother knew something about the elder. Maybe, just maybe, this guilt would go away.

"I'm not a General anymore." He reminded him for the…he lost count of how many times. They had been traveling through forests like these, underground passageways and the like ever since Al had came to him. For some reason he refused to use any normal means of transportation. "And where exactly are we going?"

"Resembol!" He piped happily. "I told you already, I need your help!" Roy was starting to wonder if the boy had done something illegal, he shook the thought, it was something only Edward would do. Light fell on his face, they had left the forest. He glanced up and gaped at the sight before him. "We're here!"

"Halt! Does a sheep travel in the shadows of night?" A huge grey wall of stone and metal stretched as far as the eye could see. Only a few yards in front of them came the fortress's gate. What took Roy's breath away was standing up on the ramparts, clad in the misshapen uniform of a decommissioned soldier and aiming a rifle straight at them.

"Riza?" He breathed.

Next to him, Alphonse saluted. "Sir! I, your sheep _Fox_, have returned with our black one _Lion._."

…_? What did he just say?_

Riza turned around and shouted to someone on a lower section of the wall. "Open the gate!"

Al led him forward as the gates' doors were pushed open. "What's this code you're using?" Roy whispered to him as the stepped inside. "And what happened here?"

Al opened his mouth to answer but was cut of by the arrival of Riza hopping down onto the main level. The boy straightened up and saluted. "Major Hawkeye, sir!"

_Major? _For a moment it looked as if she was going to hug the young alchemist, instead she grabbed his shoulders and shook him violently. "What in hell were you thinking! You can't just up and leave whenever you feel like it, for all I knew you were dead! And you bring him back with you!" A glare like daggers shot out in Roy's direction.

The soldier that had opened the gate stared at Roy wide-eyed. "Major…should I take your post?" He eyed Roy as if the alchemist was someone to be wary of.

"Yes, I'll send someone else over to man the gate." Riza answered, turning away from Alphonse. She looked weary. Now that he was up close he saw how tattered she was, like the clothes on her back. Patched up cargo pants, a bloody t-shirt over a bullet-proof vest full of bullet holes and an oversized helmet that slid off on one side of her head…the other soldier looked the same. "I'll also have whoever it is bring food for everyone up there." It didn't look like she ate very well either.

"Riza, what's going on here?" The other soldier glared at him and rolled his eyes before climbing up to the ramparts.

The same glare began to form on her face but then faded. "Of course, you wouldn't know." She waved him to follow her. "This isn't the place for this discussion, Alphonse go get something for yourself to eat."

Roy followed her down the long corridors. He noticed that every time they passed someone they would salute Riza. "Do you run this place?" He asked.

"I wouldn't say that." She answered with a smile of satisfaction. Yep, she was their leader all right.

He also noticed that when they would notice him they would give the same cold glare. "Does everyone hate me?"

"Pretty much." _Didn't hold back on that one._ She opened a door in the wall that he hadn't noticed before, actually he hadn't noticed any doors. _They must all be like this._

"And why is that, exactly?" He stepped into the room.

"Sit here." She said pointing at a spot on the floor. More than a little confused, Roy followed her order only to have her shut the door on him. _She's leaving me here!_ He sat in the dark room for only a few minutes before she came back again, turning on the lights and shutting the door behind her. "Sorry about that, I needed to explain some things to some people."

"That makes a whole lot of sense."

"Neither do you, why are you here?" Something felt…off. Riza wasn't acting the way he remembered. She was putting on an offensive front but in actuality everything about her was defensive. The way she kept one hand behind her and on the door-a quick escape-, the way one arm grasped the other- barring herself off-, and of course her eyes that shone with wariness that refused to stare anywhere near him.

"Is something wrong?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

"No." She snapped a little too quickly. "Answer my question before asking me anything!"

"You don't need to shout."

"I do when you're being stupid!" Instead of coming forward, like any normal person would while shouting, she cringed back as if…

"How can you lead this place if you're even scared of _me_?" The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. Since when was Hawkeye _afraid_?

Her eyes widened for a moment. "I'm not…" She clenched her fist and cringed. "Alphonse will answer your questions." Riza's voice was barely above a defeated whisper. It was almost painful for Roy to hear, what could have happened here?

His eyes fell to the floor as she discreetly slipped out the door. _What was going on? _Resembol was a…a _fortress_, Riza was acting stranger than usual - and in charge-, Alphonse was…well he didn't know what was up with him yet but Roy assumed that there would be something. _God, it's like I'm in a soap opera and my character just came back from the dead._

"And why are we even _in_ Resembol!" He sighed and glanced around the room. There was a tiny bed in the far back corner. _Whose room is this? _At it's end was a small crib and at it's head was a small dresser. Roy thought it was weird that Riza would just dump him off in some random person's room. Unless…

Did Riza have a kid? It _had_ been two years. He tried to imagine her as a mom but he kept thinking about when she first got Black Hayate as a pet. Shuddering, he hoped that she would have enough sense to never point a gun at a child.

If she did have a kid, then who could the father be? …_Maybe Havoc…?_ She probably wouldn't go for a military guy…Roy couldn't help but feel a bit jealous for this mystery man that may not even exist.

His stomach sank as he remembered the reasons he couldn't (or wouldn't) be that man. Riza…had always been a special case. There was something about her that, how could he put it?…that wasn't _right._ It was as if she was missing something, or that something had been taken away.

Roy wished that things were different, and for the longest time he had tried to pretend that it never mattered. Yet time proved that what he wanted was never going to happen. That realization was what finally drove him to leave for Briggs in the first place.

"General?" Alphonse voice came from the other side of the door along with a knock.

"Here."

The door opened and the boy entered. "Barely ten minutes here and you've already got the Major all in a huff." He smiled. "What did you say to her?"

Roy sighed. "Alphonse, why did you bring me here?" Alphonse's smile faded. "What happened?"

Alphonse sat down on the floor and motioned for Roy to do the same. "It started with the rebellion you and my brother started when finding out about Bradley. All rebellions have those who reject them. Many of those who did completely played those of the rebellion, the 'rebels'. Of course the people of Amestris, who had been seeing what was going on, were not going to allow them, the 'patriots', to have power again. So the patriots began to call themselves the conservative party, pretending to be a less radical party then the rebels by wanting only the basic changes to the government that the people were asking for.

"Their plan was, once voted in they would be able to control the strings to make it look like there was change when in reality everything stayed the same."

"As long as you have the political power, you can control the media." Roy nodded, familiar with this tactic.

"Yes, and so they were going to play things out to make it look like the rebels had committed crimes or terror, basically blame those with radical ideas of all the countries problems."

"That sounds familiar." It wasn't much different than when the country blamed Ishbal for everything.

"But the patriots knew that the people wouldn't believe them with their hero as the rebel's figurehead: you. When you left they made it out as if you turned your back on the party because of the 'horrible crimes' they had committed.

"Soon battles raged all over this country in a civil war over 'fighting terror' and trying to retake our country. We, the rebels, have small colonies like this all over to protect our supporters and create an army that will eventually bring us into power. We barely survive everyday on the defensive. And I assure you every day is a fight whether there is a battle or not."

Roy sat there, soaking it all in. This…really _was_ all his fault. Now he saw why everyone hated him.

"No one wanted to get you're help after this, blaming you for what happened." Al continued quietly. "But I'm not going to. We need you here. We need a leader."

"What about Hawkeye?"

"The Major's only this camp's leader, I'm referring to the rebellion as a whole." Alphonse chuckled.

"No, I mean what happened with her." The young alchemist blinked in surprise. "She's different somehow."

"Around the time when you first arrived at Briggs did you ever get a message from General Armstrong?" He asked quietly.

"Nothing that was important…only things like 'make sure you watch out for bears.' What does that have to do with Hawkeye?"

"Nothing…" The look in Alphonse's eyes showed that it wasn't the case. "Major Hawkeye…" He seemed to be struggling with the words. "She…she won't…" He sighed. "She's sick. We don't know what it is. It's serious and we can't do much for her." His words tumbled out too fast for him to say them properly. "I-I think she's scared that- that something bad will happen and she won't be able to take care of us. She knows how much we need her! Wi-without her I I don't know what I just…" The fear and worry in his eyes glinted with new-forming tears.

"Wait. Calm down." Roy placed his hands on Alphonse's shaking shoulders. "What's going on?"

"The other day she collapsed and when the doctors were checking everything out, they found something." Al shook his head. "I don't know much about medicine but they found a virus or something that they can't recognize and since then she's been having weird symptoms."

Roy thought about their earlier exchange…this couldn't be the reason she acted that way…was it? Something was off. There was something Alphonse wasn't telling him. And if that was this case, was this story he was telling true?

"You can't talk to her about it though! It's a really touchy subject and she already has it in for you." The boy had looked so genuine but judging from this statement he had probably been lying to cover up whatever had really happened.

"Alright." _I'll find out sooner or later._

A silence fell between them, both being skeptical of the other. In this time Roy began to notice things about Alphonse. The boy held himself differently, as if he had chains of his own to carry now. _But that's what war does to people._ A war that he could have prevented if only…

"Alphonse?" He heard Riza's voice from the other side of the door. Al peeked his head out the door before disappearing behind it. Roy could barely hear their muffled voices, all he made out was 'no room' and 'I'll have to'. When the door opened again only she was there.

_So this was her room._ She was holding a baby.

"You can spend the night here and we can have you on your way tomorrow." Riza said, gently placing the child in the crib.

"I'm not leaving." Roy declared. "I made a mistake by doing so before and I'm not going to do it again."

"That's a great thing to say, but nobody wants you here." She was still refusing to look at him.

"Alphonse does."

"Alphonse is a _child_." She was still glancing frantically around the room for an escape.

It felt as if he were swallowing his pride as he awkwardly changed the subject. "Speaking of, what's his or her name?" Roy asked, nodding towards the sleeping baby.

Riza seemed surprised at his question. "Oh, um." Her face flushed. "It's Mathew Edward Hawkeye." She spoke her family name so quietly that it was barely audible. It had always been the biggest shame for a woman to have a child out of wedlock and from her reaction she probably wasn't with the father anymore.

What got Roy was the child's second name. "Mathew _Edward_?"

"I was going to name him after Alphonse" Riza explained. "but he said that he wouldn't be here if it wasn't for his brother and suggested that I name him after Ed." She seemed to have relaxed. He walked right up next to her to get a look at Mathew; his cheeks were chubby with baby fat and his little hands cupped near his squinted shut eyes and short dark hair.

Roy couldn't help but smile, he had always been a sucker for babies. "I hope he has his mother's eyes?"

"He does." She smiled too. "But he has his father's good looks, he'll be just as popular with girls."

Taking her comment as an invitation to ask about the father, he did, "could I ask who the father is?"

Riza instantly tensed up. "N-no…" She moved to the side of her bed and bent down to search under it. "There's a spare mattress under here…" But she couldn't get it out because it was caught with the dresser pushed up against the bed like it was.

"Here." Roy reached under the bed and lifted it up at the corner. But she didn't use that chance to move the mattress out from under it. He glanced down at her and saw that she was still sitting in the same place, shaking. "Are you alright?"

But she didn't answer, only moved her hands up to her throat; the sign for choking. She looked as if she were gasping for air except there was no sound, as if no air at all was moving through.

_Oh God, I can't remember the last time I had to do CPR!_ Not remembering much of anything in the procedure he dropped the bed and hit her hard on the back. A wet sound and the sound of air came from her throat. Roy was glad that it was all she had needed, except that now she was coughing up pools of blood.

Finally she coughed up a huge clot and she was done. _Alphonse really wasn't lying._ He helped the panting Riza to lean against her bed. As he did, her hand bumped into the clot that she had coughed up but instead of sticking to her hand, it rolled and bumped into his knee.

It didn't feel like a clot. "What the-?" He reached down and picked it up.

-_I can see what's inside of you- _

Roy felt sick.

It wasn't a clot. It was an eye.

* * *

**A/N: **re-uploaded :D**  
**


	3. That Which Has Remianed A Secret

**Chapter Two:**

**That Which Has Remained a Secret**

Roy fought the urge to vomit, an urge that Riza didn't seem to fight, as the eye rolled off his hand and bounced as it hit the floor.

_Oh God, Oh God!_ "W-We have to bring you to the doctor's, how do I get there?" He reached down to help her up but she swatted his hands away. Sick of her 'don't touch me' act, Roy slung Riza over his shoulder kicking and screaming. He ran out of the room, not before placing the eye in a sock like a little cloth pouch.

Upon sight soldiers pointed their guns at Roy, but once they noticed Riza's state he was allowed to pass. "The Rockbell's is that way," They pointed him in the right direction. "We'll send Alphonse your way."

Following the directions he was given, Roy hurried deeper into the walls of the fortress. Through a maze of corridors, rooms, and dead ends he came to an opening that led outside. His sense of urgency faltered upon the sight. Resembol hadn't changed, it was here behind those huge walls. Green hills, packed on every inch of ground with crops and cattle, spread across the horizon. Only the tops of the walls that circled the town could be seen on the other side.

Roy followed a familiar path, only changed by the growing life all around him. It was as if he walked out of a nightmare and into a fairytale.

But the nightmare somehow seeped through the cracks.

"General!" Alphonse rushed up next to him. _How did he catch up with me so fast?_ "What happened?" He didn't even seem out of breath.

Riza went silent once she heard Al's voice, she even stopped fighting him. Roy gratefully took that chance to hand him the sock that held the eye.

The eye was green. Alphonse knew it couldn't be hers. "This didn't come from-?"

"Yeah."

Alphonse's eyes widened. He stayed silent for a while before whispering, "And you were skeptical when I told you."

"You were acting suspicious, sorry." Alphonse was so much easier to talk to than his brother, he didn't feel the urge to be sarcastic or condescending towards him. Maybe the boy reminded him of Hughes when he was younger.

The yellow house came into view and Alphonse led them inside. The place was packed with make-shift beds and people practically wasting away. The Rockbell's dog came bounding between the mess of bodies and right up to Alphonse. "Hey Den," Al pat the dog on the head. Den, that was his name.

"-need more food, there's nothing I can do." A young blonde woman backed out of a room across from them. She turned and spotted them, "General…?" It was Whinry. She was only eighteen, but he could see that she had aged far beyond her years.

Their eyes met for a second. She was dying inside, like he had been. The loss of Edward affected her, hit her harder than him, but she still fought. He felt even more motivated now to try and help the cause.

"Look what the cat dragged in," she tilted her head. "What happened this time Riza?"

"You'll never guess," Alphonse muttered grimly. He handed her the sock, "this came out of her mouth."

For a moment despair flickered in her eyes then she smiled and laughed, "what have I told you about cannibalism?"

Riza laughed, "if only."

Whinry's shoulder's sagged and her arms hung from her sides as if she didn't have the energy to move them. "Alright," she sighed, "well, let's get a look at you."

Roy lowered Riza to her feet. In all the strangeness of the past twenty-four hours, it was not something that had changed. Their bodies grazed each other for a second as he lowered her and all he wanted was to grab her and pull her in, to hold her and to touch her. She avoided his eyes and distanced herself from him, that hadn't changed either.

Whinry led her into the back and drew a curtain around the two of them. Roy waited with Alphonse just outside, but he could see them through a gap in the curtains. Whinry was saying something and Riza was slipping her shirt off over her head. "General?" Roy turned away from the crack in the curtains. "What happened exactly, from the time I left until when I met up with you."

"Sure." Roy gazed out at the people lying all over the house and focused on a section of wall between the door and a window. "She came in with her kid, we talked for a bit and then she tensed up and quit breathing. Then she coughed up that eye."

"That's what I thought, whenever she gets stressed out it gets worse." Alphonse patted Den's head. "What did you say to her?"

From the corner of his eye he could see Whinry checking out Riza's throat with a flashlight. "We talked about the kid and I asked who the father-"

Before he could finish, Alphonse wiped around to face him. "You did _what_!"

"What? What's wrong with ask-"

"You _idiot_!" Roy blinked, he had never seen the kid so worked up before. No, not passive little Alphonse. He lowered his voice. "She was raped, Mustang."

Slowly, his eye moving just slightly faster than the rest off him and his mouth dragging open, Roy turned to face the boy. He knew it was true as Alphonse had said it, voice raspy and filled with solemn regret. It hit him as he saw that _child_'s eyes glistening from a painful memory that should have never happened.

Roy's eyes closed. He shook, tilting his head down, gritting his teeth. His unsteady hands came up and clenched around strands of hair. He vaguely felt his back hit the wall and slide to the floor.

"I…" _I'm a fool._ "I should have been there," he rasped.

"Yes, you should have," Alphonse's soft voice cut through the coming sorrow, "but that can't change anything now. We need her, she's all we have, so _please_ please help her."

Roy's gaze lifted to Alponse's face. "Why do you keep saying things like that?" Alphonse was still hiding something from him. "How am I supposed to help with that, turn back time?" What did he know, what _could_ he know? "How am I supposed to help her when she's vomiting eyeballs?"

"Listen to what you're saying," Alphonse's eyes stared straight into his, strong and confident like his brother. "How is it possible?

Roy's eye searched Alphonse's face in disbelief. "Alchemy? What kind of Alchem-" His eye widened. Biological Alchemy, human transmutation, the toll of the gate. Roy lowered his voice, "Riza has never preformed Alchemy, she refused to."

"And why do you think that is?" Alphonse urged him.

"What has she told you?"

By now they were leaning in, whispering intently. Alphonse took a step back. "Nothing. Once you've been through the gate a couple times, you learn a thing or two." He flashed Roy a smile before moving his gaze past him. "So, how is she?"

"Well everything seems normal…" Whinry's voice sounded as if it were far away, or as if he were submerged under water. He needed to think.

Alchemy, human transmutation, and Riza. Her mother died a few years before he began to train under her father. She never got along with him. The secret to his alchemy was tattooed on her back. Her initial hate of alchemy. A strange disease. How did all the pieces of her past fit together? What story would they tell?

Would it finally explain why she seemed so broken?

He glanced up at her to find that she was staring down at him with a look of thoughtful disgust. She had probably guessed what he had been discussing with Alphonse. She looked like she was about to either yell at him or start crying.

Whinry trialed off and glanced at Riza. Roy brought himself to his feet, Riza's eyes followed.

For a moment he, and everyone else in the room, was sure she was going to hit him. There really wouldn't be any reason to, but somehow it would be fitting.

Instead, she took a deep breath before forcibly hooking her arm around Roy's and dragging him outside. Roy stumbled a bit, but let her pull him along.

Once they made it up the first hill, Riza spoke quietly, "That boy…He shouldn't have told you."

"It's better that I know," Roy offered, keeping his voice soft.

"He still shouldn't have!" She snapped, glancing back at him for a moment. Her face softened and she turned her gaze back on the dirt path before them. "I should have told you, and I was going to. But Alphonse has his own ideas." Roy could see the smile that came to her lips as she mentioned the boy.

Riza slowed down, eyes fixed on the spot where the fortress wall met the darkening sky. Roy stepped beside her. "I don't like these walls," she muttered. "We're trapped here behind them, yet we need them to survive." She let her arm drop, releasing Roy from her grip. For a moment their hands touched. Riza turned to face him. "Why did-" She cut off as Roy interlocked his fingers with hers'. Riza jerked her hand away from him. "Really?"

"Sorry!"

"Can you keep your mind out of the gutter for two seconds!"

"Since when was holding hands dirty?"

Riza opened her mouth to retort, but gasped and clamped it shut instead. Her lower lip and jaw twitched as if she were holding something other than words in. She tore her glare away from him and seethed, "really?" before stalking off at a faster pace to wherever they had been heading.

"Damnit," Roy muttered, knocking himself in the head before starting after her. He understood, he got it, but…it was just him. Why should it matter if it was just him? "Riza, I didn't mean-"

"It's Major Hawkeye," Riza snapped, keeping her focus on something ahead of her.

"Riza-!" Roy would have protested more, but he saw that they were nearing an entrance to the wall, guarded by two soldiers. Riza liked to keep private things private, the last thing he was going to do was make a scene for them.

The soldiers saluted as they walked past. Roy recognized one of them as a soldier who had worked under them when they worked at East Command, the other looked like he was barely sixteen. Before the door shut all the way, Roy heard the boy whispered loudly to the other soldier, "Is it true that they-?"

_True that we what?_

Eyes and whispers followed them through the corridors. Salutes came along with friendly smiles from the soldiers that scattered the halls, but once the soldiers were behind them they would begin whispering.

"Do you think that-?"

"-used to be lovers."

"-what happened won't ruin that."

"I bet they-"

"I need to set up a meeting for tomorrow morning," Riza's voice jolted him from his trance, "I'll be back in a few minutes." She pointed at the door that she was about to go through for disappearing behind it.

Not knowing what to do, Roy leaned against the wall. The cool metal was refreshing on his pounding head. Too much, the day had been too much. Roy closed his eye and folded his arms.

"The Major wouldn't do that." He perked his ears at the mention of Riza.

"It's just what I heard!" Apparently they only cared if Riza heard what they were saying. "Either way, it was weird." The voice sounded familiar, but he could place a name to it.

"After a fight like that, why wait nearly a month to leave?"

"He needed to file his papers, to bring himself down from a General to an enlistee." They couldn't honestly be talking about that, could they? "Moved out of his apartment in the meantime and continued to stay with her."

"No way, that's weird!" Roy wanted more than anything to tell them that they wouldn't understand. Truthfully, he didn't understand either. Perhaps he had waited around, hoping for a reason to stay. Perhaps he simply treated her like shit because he knew he could.

The last thought sickened him.

"Wouldn't she have spent that month trying to make him stay, how could she have let him just leave?"

"Well…According to Lieutenant Ross," Ross? Ross and Brosch. It was Sergeant Brosch from Investigations in Central. Roy briefly wondered if Ross lived in Resembol and if she did, than what about his old team? "The Major had given in to the inevitable."

The inevitable?

Had he been such a lost cause?

Roy remembered those two weeks as one big haze. All the days moved with the same air of loss. He couldn't separate one day from the other. They all…Everything simply sucked. He carried a sour feeling in his stomach and a bad taste in his mouth for days. They still shared a bed. It wasn't intimate, he ignored her very presence. She followed him, like always, but never spoke. Riza kept her head down, lifting her eyes to watch him only when she thought he couldn't see.

She watched him with a look of insecurity he never knew she kept within. Her eyes were always wide with worry and fear.

He had waited for her to return to her normal self. He wanted her to force him to apologize, to force him to stay.

He wanted to know that he hadn't broken her completely.

How was that his reason? Roy knew he should have done what he waited for her to do. He should have teased her like he always did. He should have bothered her enough to apologize that she would force him to. He should have gotten over himself and listened.

"Let's go," Riza appeared and started off again, not even motioning for him to follow. Roy started slowly after her. He kept his eyes on her, watching for the confidence he so loved about her. By his very presence he had ruined the sense of control she felt she had.

He laid down on the mattress next to Riza's bed. Although he was in desperate need of a well-overdue night's sleep, his mind wouldn't stop. He kept imagining what it must have been like for her. Everything, not just the way he treated her, not just the war, but what he hated most too.

It made him sick. How could anyone do something like that? Not to her. Not to anyone! But especially not to her, not to his Riza.

She was right there, right next to him, already fast asleep. A thin blanket covered what he could see of a silhouette of her body.

* * *

_A thin blanket barely covered her naked back. He could see the tattooed array just peeking out above the hem._

_Was this okay?_

_Riza was still only a kid. This couldn't have been what Master Hawkeye wanted, but what did he expect?_

_She muttered in her sleep, clutching his arm tighter. He smiled and lay back down with her again. Roy held her, his arm resting against her exposed hip._

_She hadn't filled out all the way yet. She was only fifteen._

_He was seventeen, an adult._

_Somewhere, he knew it hadn't been right._

_Yet it felt so perfect._

* * *

Like this first time he knew that he shouldn't, but he couldn't stop thinking about her body.

Roy hugged his small pillow, preparing for a restless night.

* * *

"_Riza!" The city flew past him. He knew he was running, but he could not feel his legs. Grey, black and white owned the city, setting the foreboding atmosphere of his nightmare. It was raining. His footsteps made no noise._

_He did a double-take down an alley, catching sight of a gun lying at it's mouth. "Riza!" Roy was screaming for her. He could not see her through the shadows. He ran, but moved forward slowly as if underwater._

_Her hand came into sight, weak and limp. A pained expression turned to fear as he tilter her head in his direction. She look as if she were about to speak, but blood pooled out of her mouth instead. An eye drifted out in the flow and bumped against his foot._

_A formless shadow loomed over her. It shifted, as if looking in his direction before lunging towards and overtaking him._

_Roy fell backwards into the darkness. It was like floating on water. The eyeball was much larger now, larger than him as it drifted along next to him. It flicked it's gaze at him. All around him, the shadows opened up into eyes and grins._

_From directly above him a light appeared. The light took the shape of a gender-less human and brought it's face close to his._

"I gave that one a chance,"_ it spoke in a strange voice that was almost familiar._ "The poor girl."

"She didn't have a part in it, only her unwillingly given blood."

"I cut her a deal at my Gate,"

"_Who are you?" Roy felt strangely aware, almost as if he hadn't been dreaming._

"If she couldn't find love in twenty years, mutual and understood then I could take it as toll."

"_We love each other! Or at least, we did." Roy caught himself. "I'm not so sure anymore."_

"Mutual and understood."

_Roy felt the stream flowing faster, pulling him away. He started feeling weaker, his vision becoming vague._

"You are connected. Now do something about the alchemist in Central, General."

"_Alchemist? Edward? Is Edward…?" Roy couldn't speak. His mind grew cloudy and blank, leaving him once more for a new dream._

-See what lies inside-

* * *

**A/N: **Finally! I am continuing this Fiction! :D I was stupid and decided to start writing this while writing five other stories _ Bad idea. now those are done and I'm ready to take on this challenge!

I'd Love to here what you think! Comments, critiques, you name it, I'm listening.


	4. Perceptive

**Fort Resembol **

**Chapter 3:**

**Perceptive**

Roy woke with a jolt after suffering through a few more nightmares. He felt dizzy and had to blink a few times before he could see straight. For a second he panicked, not recognizing the bland features of his new room. _Oh, right._ he flopped back down on the mattress and glanced over at Riza's sleeping form. At least she was peaceful while asleep.

Her left arm hung over the side of her bed, resting with it's palm facing up.

They were much different than when they were thirteen years ago. All that time ago, they were young and convinced that they could change the world. They were young and foolish, they thought they were in love.

He didn't know what it was anymore. He didn't know what happened to change all that.

Hope? Nonexistent. All they did was make the world worse.

Young? He was thirty one, almost thirty two, and she had just turned thirty a month ago.

Foolish?

Roy couldn't take his eyes off of her. God how he wanted to just sit with her, to just talk all of it out. How he wanted her to look at him without that defeated stare.

Yes, he was still a fool.

Riza muttered something unintelligible in her sleep. Her hand twitched and grabbed onto his sleeve. She tugged at him, her subconscious believe that he must have been a blanket. He glanced at her hand, surprised by how boney and weak it looked.

He rolled away from her, hoping she would let go. Instead she came tumbling down beside him.

Roy froze, his heart beating furiously. Her arm hung over him and she pulled herself closer. Her chest pressed against his back, her soft heartbeat clashing with his. Riza buried her face between Roy and the mattress.

Despite their close proximity, all Roy could think of what Riza would do to him if she woke up like this. She would murder him, he was certain.

All of a sudden, like an alarm going off, the baby started crying. He expected Riza to instantly wake up and tend to him, but she didn't. She didn't even move.

Roy sighed and pulled her off of him, weren't mothers supposed to have some sort of instinctive reflex to calm a child? He got up and walked over to the crib. He stared down at the baby boy, not having the slightest clue on how to soothe him. Roy picked him up from under the armpits and awkwardly held him against his chest. Mathew seemed to quiet a little.

He glanced back at Riza, how could she sleep through this? "Shh, hey buddy," Roy whispered, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, "you don't need to cry." _Well…maybe he does._ He tugged at Mathew's diaper, a putrid smell wafting out. "Oh, God." Roy glanced at Riza again. "Riza! Riza!" His hissed.

She rolled over, pulling his pillow over her head.

Roy rolled his eyes and kicked her foot. "Riza, wake up!"

She mumbled something and waved at her dresser.

Roy followed her…was it supposed to be directions? And searched the dresser for a pack of diapers. He gulped as he laid the baby down on a blanket to change him. This would be his most difficult battle yet.

Five diapers, a hysterically laughing baby, and a Roy in desperate need to wash up later . . . He had finally done it. He picked Mathew up and laughed in spite of himself. "At least you got a kick out of it."

Meanwhile Riza had finally woken up and dressed for the day. He couldn't stop thinking about that dream whenever he glanced over at her. It had felt so real, almost as if he hadn't been dreaming at all. He wasn't one to believe in ghosts, superstitions, or any of the supernatural but he felt something ominous about that dream.

"Hurry up," Riza waved him towards the door. "We need to take Matt over to Gracia's."

Roy nodded and followed her out. He remembered reading something once that dreams reflected the worries of the day, that the unconscious mind tried to work out frustrations. Inside the dream, Roy had been told that he had royally screwed things up with Riza. He didn't need a dream to tell him that, but it also said that they were connected.

He knew he could fix things with her. Roy knew that he had to.

Riza stopped outside of a men's bathroom and took Matt from his arms. She didn't have to say it. _Go wash up,_ he could almost hear her voice inside his head, _take too long and I'll leave you here._

An Alchemist in Central? He had first thought of Edward, but now that he thought of it, it must have had to do with the war. These people had been living in hiding, living in fear for far too long. It was time to take the offensive and deal with whatever forces they came across.

Roy shook his hands dry and hurried out of the wash room. He smiled upon the sight of Riza playing with the boy while waiting for him. Despite how he had come into being, she still loved her son more than anything. She caught sight of him and, without a word, passed the boy over to him and started down the hall again.

He glanced down at the boy who smiled brightly at him, clapping his hands near his face. She probably didn't know what to do with her son. Her father hadn't exactly been warm towards her and her mother had died when she was young. How was she supposed to know how to really care for him?

Something nagged at the back of his mind as he followed her, bouncing Matt slightly in his arms. _Only her unwillingly given blood._ Roy had always wondered, had his Master tried human transmutation to resurrect his late wife? And if he had…Roy remembered what Edward explained to him about the ritual, the use of his own, kin of his mother, blood.

Roy had always wondered if his Master had Riza give her blood to attempt to resurrect her mother. It would explain her strange health issues, and everything Alphonse had said. Riza must have never tried alchemy due to that traumatic experience as Alphonse had implied.

Then, had Riza been to the Gate?

Then . . . What could he do to help her? Hadn't Edward and Alphonse's teacher lost her life from complications of rejected human transmutation?

"Roy," Riza muttered his voice sternly.

Roy shook himself and glanced around. They had come to a daycare. It was the only bright room he had seen since arriving at the fort. There wasn't many kids and all of them either looked sick or underfed. "Oh, sorry," Roy handed off the boy to Gracia.

He probably shouldn't have been so surprised at how old she looked. Roy had seen how the events had worn Winry, Riza and Alphonse. Yet Gracia held herself differently than the way Winry and Riza did. she held herself the same way Alphonse did, with hope and determination. She hadn't given up just yet.

"It's great to see you back with us Roy," Gracia spoke what he wished to hear from Riza. She softly patted Matthew's head and the boy smiled. Her eyes fell on Riza as she continued, "I hope you have been given a warm welcome."

Riza's eyes fell to the floor. "We have to get going," she muttered, turning swiftly on her heel.

_Oh._ Roy grimaced at Gracia before following Riza out into the corridor. It wasn't that Riza didn't want him there, it was that she didn't know what to do with him.

He caught up to her quickly, and fell into pace beside her. "I had been thinking," Riza flicked her eyes at him for a moment to indicate that she was listening. "What we need to do is go on the offensive. We could join forces with the other camps just like this one and-"

"How can we risk a move like that when we can barely stand to defend our fort on a normal day?" Riza snapped.

"Yes," Roy tried patiently, "but if things keep going like this we will be reduced to nothing. It didn't take long to notice that these people can't support themselves here."

"We don't even know if there are any other forts left anymore, we can't risk what little we have on a flicker of hope," Riza reached for the handle to the door in front of her, but Roy moved in her way.

"A flicker can become a flame, Riza." He stared her dead in the eye, trying to convey everything in those words. Not just about the war but about them too, there was hope and he wasn't going to let it die.

Her eyes softened. She pushed him aside and started into the room. As Roy moved to follow, an alarm went off. Startled, he turned a questioning look in her direction.

"It's calling everyone to a meeting," Riza explained. "If you're going to be staying here, our personnel should be informed."

"O-oh," Roy let out a little sigh of relief. For a moment he had been certain that they had came under attack.

Riza hid her smile behind her hand, stifling a laugh. She composed herself and made her way around a heavy curtain that cut off the majority of the room. It took him a few seconds to realize that the door they had just come through had lead them behind a stage. Riza pointed to a row of three chairs against the curtain and at the end of the stage closet to them. Another row of three chairs sat at the opposite end and there was a pedestal in the middle.

"You'll have the chair closest to the pedestal," Riza began. "I will start off with a few announcements about our base before introducing you. When I do, you come up to the pedestal and thank everyone for their hospitality and say that you will work hard and nothing more. You will take your seat and I will finish up the meeting, got it?"

Roy wondered briefly whether or not everyone already knew of his presence before nodding. "I got it."

It didn't take long for the hall to fill with the citizens and soldiers of Resembol. Roy sat awkwardly in his seat isolated from the other three across the stage. The mayor of Resembol had the middle seat, Alphonse had the seat farthest from him, and Riza had the closest. _The mayor, the head alchemist, and the head of the military._

The hall quieted as Riza stood and walked up to the pedestal. "Thank you all for being able to make it here today and thanks for all your hard work that keeps this place running. Today, as many of you know, marks the day of the Festival of Sheep and while we may not have the sheep that once made this day a joyous occasion, we have . . ."

Roy quickly zoned out. His eyes scanned the faces of the crowd. Most of them stared at him, whispering to those around them. He glanced at the other chairs across the stage. Alphonse leaned forward slightly so that Roy could see him casting him a smile.

". . . General Roy Mustang to our ranks." Riza took a step back and motioned towards him. Awkwardly Roy stood up as Riza made her seat. There were a few lone claps that quickly died out.

He stepped up to the pedestal. "Thank you for," One look and he knew they were just as mad at him as Riza. "allowing me back among you." Hell, maybe they were even more angry at him. Roy glanced momentarily back at Riza. She shot him a glance, warning him to only say what he was told. His glance turned to Alphonse, who gave him a thumbs up. Roy's eyes fell once again on the people before him. Screw what he was expected, he had to make things right.

"I know that most of you don't want anything to do with me. I know that you are mad at me and rightly so. I made a mistake a few years back, a bad one, and I'm sorry but I'm not going to stand up here and plead for your forgiveness." He could feel the daggers Riza was glaring through the back of his head. "I'm here to right my wrongs. I'm going to fight, alongside those that I should have been fighting alongside years ago. I'm going to do whatever it takes to end this and take our country back." He could see the faces of those whose hope had gone out long ago, light up at his words. "To give this country back to her people. I promise that I will do this, that I will work hard and nothing more."

Roy relished at the though of using Riza's own words against her. He turned, casting her a smug look, and took his seat.

The crowd didn't know whether to clap or what. They stood bewildered. Alphonse softly began to clap for him and slowly it spread until the whole hall was cheering for him.

Once Riza stood up and made her way back up to the pedestal, the crowd had died down again, silent determination spread across their faces. She opened her mouth to speak yet nothing came out.

She was just as bewildered as them.

* * *

"Oh come on Riza, you know me better than to expect me to do what I'm told!" Roy spoke hastily in response to Riza's seething. It was after the meeting and they had started down the mess of corridors once more, now in search of a new "uniform" for him.

"You're just lucky that you won them over with that," Riza sighed, gigging through a pile of various sized shirts a vests.

"Not luck, that's charisma, baby!" Roy laughed. "Aha! Found a pair!" He folded a pair of pants over his arm.

"I see you've got your ego back…" Riza muttered.

"You bet!"

How could he not? He had won back the grace of his country, Riza seemed to trust him more, he could see things turning around.

"Not to add fuel to you ego, but I asked Alphonse to poll the soldiers on whether they wanted to go with your plan." Riza threw a shirt at him, "this is your size, right?"

Roy nodded and folded the shirt over his arm. "Really? I thought you were against it."

_No._ "I thought that they should be able to decide their own fate." _She didn't want to admit that she had been wrong._ Riza grabbed a vest and stood up. "Then this should fit too." She passed it to Roy and he slung it over his shoulder. "I also asked the mayor to see if he could find any extra space for you."

"You don't like living with me?" Roy pouted .

"No, not really," Riza answered honestly, leading the way out and through the corridors once more. "Anyway, he hasn't found any space, so you'll be staying with me a little while longer."

"You should be happy," Roy followed alongside her this way, smirking. "Now you can have me help take care of little Mathew."

"You should be helping care for him regard-" Riza froze, her eyes widening. "-less…" she muttered, suddenly quickening her pace.

Roy opened his mouth as if to say something, but decided better. What was _that_ supposed to mean? He tried to figure it out by being observant, but she cut herself off and walled her self up.

* * *

"The results are in!" Alphonse slammed a mitt-full of papers down on the table. Roy, glad for the break in the awkward tension that had surrounded him and Riza for the rest of the day, turned his gaze up to the boy. He and Riza had just sat down in the mess hall for dinner. "It's unanimous!" The boy exclaimed with excitement, glancing between the two. "We're contacting the other camps and going on the offensive!"

They were silent for a moment. Riza swallowed her mouthful and began to speak. "Then get the letters ready and organize a team to deliver them. We should waste no time, have them sent tonight."

"Yes, sir!" Alphonse saluted and ran off again.

"It's nice to see him excited like that," Roy said.

Riza stood up, taking her empty tray with her. "I need to pick up Mathew."

Roy followed after her. He really needed to get a map of the place or something so he could stop tagging around wherever Riza went. He glanced at her. "Riza?"

She didn't respond.

"What did you mean earlier when you said that I should be caring for him?"

"I didn't mean anything Roy."

She meant something alright.

He kept quiet but continued to think about it. For whatever reason, he had been so spot on in understanding her lately. Strange, because normally everything she said never made any sense to him.

His mind wandered as they brought Mathew back to Riza's room. What did that dream say? That they were connected? Perhaps that meant he could somehow read her thoughts? Roy laughed at himself. It was probably the stupidest thing he had ever thought of … and he had thought of plenty of stupid things.

Still, he closed his eye and focused on her.

Riza rocked Mathew to sleep after readying him for bed and laid him in his crib. She glanced back at Roy. _He'll find out when he gets older._

Roy blinked open his eye in surprise. _Shit!_ It had worked! He caught her gaze and they both looked away immediately.

His heart beat fast and he worked to calm it, closing his eye to focus on her again. In the pit of his stomach, he felt sick at the invasion of privacy he was committing.

Riza seemed to calm herself too. _…Hide it forever. _Hide? Hide what? _Maybe it will be better if he knows now, won't have to go through that later, could be worse. _She glanced back at him again. _How do I tell Roy he's the father?_

Roy felt as if he couldn't breathe. His mind worked fast, counting the months back in his head. _Shit._ It added up to be a possibility. Then…that would mean that she would have know before he left in the first place. _Shit!_

"Riza…?" His voice ached with uncertainty. She turned to face him, she had to know what that tone meant. "How many months old is Mathew?"

Her eyes widened. "About thirteen months." She was frozen to the spot.

There was no denying it.

"Is he…?" She was going to stand there in silent fear, waiting for him to finish. "Is he my son?"

* * *

**A/N: **Hohoho! Secret's out!

Sorry for not updating sooner! This fic is now my first priority fanfiction and I hope to finish by the summertime, if not, by the end of this new year!

Thanks for reading and reviewing! I'd love to know what you think!


	5. Keep Moving Forward

**Fort Resembol**

**Chapter Four:**

**Keep Moving Forward**

Roy's question hung in the air. Utter silence crept through the space between them. She couldn't deny it. For that moment, time seemed to have stopped or slowed. Her eyes, wide with shock, stared into his, soft and pleading.

Riza didn't know what to say. He knew that she knew she couldn't lie, yet it seemed like there was something pulling at her, something keeping her from saying anything. Her lack of words didn't matter, her reaction was enough.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Roy didn't know how to feel. A mixture of confusion, anger, hurt, worry and disappointment swirled trough his veins. He felt cold, almost fearful. And she wouldn't look at him. The second he opened his mouth to speak, Riza turned away. Screw whatever happened, he deserved to know! "Riza!"

She took a step away from him. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again," Riza tried to keep her voice even, but it was obvious by her wavering that this was something she couldn't even pretend to be calm about. "And then you just show up out of the blue? What, do you expect me to smile and say oh look you have a son!" She threw out her arms in exasperation, seething at him.

"Why the hell are you mad at-!"

"Because you left me!" Riza shouted, cutting him off. "I've had to do this on my own," she waved her hands, indicating the whole fort, "_All_ of this!"

Mathew woke up from the shouting, letting out a wail of his own. With a tired look in her eyes, Riza reached down for him and lifted him into her arms. She softly cooed her son and patted his head. It was obvious that she didn't want to speak about it anymore, rocking her son while backed up as far as she could away from Roy.

"You didn't have to," Roy softened his voice, as to not upset the baby, "a call would have sent me right back home."

"Just _drop it_, Roy." A phone booth, Alphonse with his back turned away and his ears red from hearing something he shouldn't, a circle of men; these images flashed through his mind in a second. It was crazy, but somehow he just knew they were her thoughts rather than his own. He would have to test the scientific plausibility of that assumption later. Even though Mathew had fallen back asleep, Riza kept him in her arms like a barrier between the two of them.

Roy took a step forward, testing her. "We can't pretend that the past didn't happen." He took another step closer. What he really wanted was to talk things out, but he was afraid that they would get into an argument and wake Mathew up again.

A few excited knocks came from the door. Roy sighed and started towards it. Alphonse came bursting in, running into him. "Oh General!" He nodded to Roy before turning his attention to Riza. "Major, we've dispatched a team for delivering the letters!" Alphonse gave a little salute as he spoke.

"Thank you for taking care of that for me, Alphonse." With that, any hopes of discussion had been killed. She moved quickly, saying goodnight to the boy, moving to rest Mathew in his crib, and crawling into bed before he could get another word out.

Roy sighed, laying down as well. There was always tomorrow.

* * *

With morning came a welcoming surprise. Riza still cared about him the same way she always had. It was nice to know because he had began to wonder. It took a while to notice as the day wore on.

Roy decided it would be better to not bring up everything from the night before first thing, especially since Riza hadn't wanted to talk anyway. It was his first day of duty at the fort and he thought that the two of them would get a much needed break from one another. Instead, she followed him like she always did.

He stood a top the fort's walls, she kept him patrolling back and forth again and again. Maybe things really hadn't changed after all.

"So you just do this every day?" Roy asked, his feet getting tired and his stomach growling.

"Every day, one meal a day too," Riza added with a sly look, noting his whimpering stomach. Despite their argument, she did seem to be more happy.

Roy stopped for a moment, turning his attention to the hills, river and forest. The sun shone bright yellow-ish white in a pure blue sky. He could hear birds holding conversations with one another and the movement of the clear river-water. "Kinda romantic up here, huh?" He turned the other way to see the city inside the wall. Growth, homes, plowed earth, it was simple and yet a wonder how beautifully self sufficient the small town had become.

"Resembol would have been a wonderful place to grown up in," she spoke softly, referring to the boys. "Alphonse still believes he's alive, and so do I."

He watched two birds fly from their perch and separate. "Belief doesn't bring people back."

"But it makes the wait bearable."

Roy turned to face her. No, things hadn't changed one bit. He smiled, she always knew what to say just as long as he listened. "Was the wait for me to come home bearable?"

"You're hardly bearable now," Riza gave him a soft smile. She hesitated for a second before turning him around and pushing him forward. "Back to work."

As if by her touch, he was taken back to a memory. In his missing left eye her could her the memory that was not his own.

_Her back hit the bed from his quick, yet gentle movement. She wondered why she had always turned down his advances and her own wants. Her hands grasped loose fabric from the back of his unbuttoned shirt as if it were the only thing keeping her in that world. A moan escapes her lips. Ah, he was amazing! Why had she ever thought to pass up this?_

_Perhaps it had been that title. All the "sirs" and "Colonels" she had uttered to him had ruined the idea. Yet now, it came so simply, so right to finally call him by name. "I love you, Roy."_

Roy blinked and looked back at her. Riza's head was down as she slowly pushed him forward, her eyes hidden under her hair, yet he could still see how red her face was getting.

He smirked. "You're thinking something dirty, aren't you?"

Riza instinctively skipped away from him, glaring. "I am not!" But he could tell by the way she flicked her eyes to the side and puffed out her cheeks that she was lying.

"You are the worst at lying, Riza." His cocky smiled faded when she didn't respond. He turned to see what was wrong. Riza watched the movements of the townspeople that looked like specks from up there.

"You should have known," Riza muttered. Then, with more conviction, "if I'm such a bad liar, you should have known that I was telling the truth. Then," her voice lowered again, this time almost to a whisper, "you wouldn't have left."

Silence fell between them. Roy knew he had been stupid back then, but he knew he could fix that.

"Said it?" Roy repeated, loud and sarcastic. "More like screamed it half a dozen times."

Riza turned to him in surprise. He had his back to her, his hands in his pockets. She smiled, understanding. He was sorry.

"That's crude, Roy."

"Well, that's what happened." Roy started walking again, back to patrolling the wall.

Riza followed after, keeping pace with him. "Well, at least I didn't-" she cut off, realizing she didn't have anything to say.

"Didn't what?"

"Never mind," She mumbled.

"What?"

"Never mind!" Riza snapped. "God Roy, you're thirty-one not eighty-one, you should be able to hear me!"

Roy laughed. He couldn't remember the last time he felt so happy, so easy and free. The past few years had been like a shadow. It had covered over everything with loss and worry that lead to anger and despair. Just by having her next to him, knowing that progress was being made, he felt like the happiest man alive. "So does that mean you forgive me?"

Riza hesitated. "I forgive you," she chose her words carefully, "for not believing. I hadn't been the most trustworthy then either and I should have been more clear." He could guess what was coming next. "I do not forgive you -on a personal level- for leaving, not yet."

"Fair enough."

* * *

Progress came slowly, but surely. Riza still refused to talk about his leaving, but he knew she would open up eventually. Each day they went on patrol, talking and working through things. Every night they watched and took care of Mathew like a normal family would.

Still, those strange occurrences continued. Occasionally it was as if he suddenly could use his nonexistent left eye again, only to see her thoughts or memories. That dream he had that first night continued to bug him . . . Somehow it had to be related and somehow he was going to figure out just what was going on.

Roy felt bad that he hadn't yet told Riza about it. There wasn't much he could do about it and he knew that she would be upset.

While she hadn't yet forgiven him for leaving, he still couldn't _understand_ why she why she hadn't told her he was the father. He wouldn't understand until she would explain, until they talked through the what happened when he left. It quickly became frustrating that anytime the topic was brought up, whether it even be by his omission of hers, Riza would shut down completely.

"We do have to talk about this eventually," Roy said with a sigh as he watched the sun rise slowly from sitting at his post on top of the front gates, "you know that, right Riza?"

She pulled her knees to her chest, hiding her face. "Not now, Roy."

"Then can we talk about why you didn't you tell me about Mathew?" He made sure to try not to sound as annoyed as he was.

_Her eyes opened in a flash, her hear beating fast in the darkness, feeling cold. She didn't have to look to confirm that he wasn't there. Dread took stake in the pit of her stomach. Still she sat up, staring at the empty sheets until she was able to gain enough sense to feel alarm instead of silent pain._

Riza stayed silent.

_She watched his back carefully, wanting nothing more than to speak. Yet Roy continued to move slowly, and Riza was too ashamed to take a the first step to catch up._

Roy started to open his mouth to tell her to forget it when she spoke. "After enough days…" Her voice was hoarse, "after not having my period, I-I knew."

_Riza slammed her fists against the bathroom wall. "Not now!" No, not like this. She wanted to scream, to have some way…to undo things, or maybe everything._

"I," she took in a deep breath, "checked of course. I thought about how to tell you but, I was so angry and ashamed that it had…happened in that way. I didn't want to be pregnant and I was scared what would happen to us. What had already happened.

"Then you were gone. I had to warn the our supporters that it was time to get moving."

_A soldier stood before her, cocky and young. "There's nowhere for you to go," he spoke through gritted teeth, annoyed at his adversary. He wore a silver pocket watch and a name-tag that read "Major Nelson."_

"I had only thought of running, the place had became a battlefield in moments." Riza had began to talk quickly as if the faster she spoke, the less she would remember. "I only thought about getting out of there and finding my way to Resembol, but then Alphonse came along. He convinced me to not give up.

"So we made a gamble. We risked our safety to try to bring you back."

_Alphonse smiled and saluted, "Yes Ma'am!"_

_Alphonse must have heard everything, "Time's run out…" The soldiers she once called comrades were closing in._

_Alphonse screamed as she tried so hard to keep silent, fighting against their hold. "Stop! Stop it!"_

_Alphonse helped her walk, giving her his coat. "We'll be there soon, just keep moving."_

Riza's voice shook, "We tried to get to you but we couldn't and and there they were, I was frantic and took the wrong turn and there was nothing we c-couldn't we-"

Roy placed his arm around her shoulder and pulled her against his. "That's enough," he whispered, "I'm sorry."

For once, she didn't push him away. For once, she relaxed. She felt safe in his presence as he had always felt with her. No, this was not the way he had hoped to return the favor one day. He had hoped to return it with a promise and a ring.

"We can create new memories, good ones to replace the bad." He held out his pinky finger in a promise. Riza glanced at it and almost laughed. She took his pinky in hers.

"To the good ones to come," she whispered hoarsely.

* * *

The noise in the mess hall grew from it's usual undistinguishable chatter to shouts of excitement. Roy knew that the soldiers they had sent to deliver the letters must have returned home.

A path quickly split from the entrance to the table that he and Riza sat at. A group, double the size it was before it left made it's way down the cleared path. "Major Hawkeye, we've come with a member from each surviving camp."

Riza nodded and stood up. Turning to one of her men she muttered, "get Alphonse and bring him to the conference room." She motioned for the newcomers and Roy to follow her. "Which camps are you from?" She asked, making her way to the conference room.

"We come from Dublith, Reole, Rush Valley," one soldier started to speak, glancing at his comrades to remember where they were all from, "Coceria, Fellingson, Hawthwayne, Morrisvile, Shillingsworth, Mayview, and Nearcreak."

"That's every camp besides Teln," Riza's voice was high in surprise.

"Teln fell quickly, but most of those from that region fled to Coceria." Another soldier explained.

"We are also gaining some ground in the North," a third soldier explained, "we are planning on reaching out to General Armstrong, she should side with us if we can reach her."

Riza nodded. "That's good to hear, if you find a way to speak with her let it be me or General Mustang here to do so, we already have a strong trust with her."

They representative soldiers from each region took their places around the conference table, Alphonse was already there sitting to one side of Riza, Roy on the other.

"We have a network of spies going around and collecting information about central," the first soldier that spoke started. "Help us gain the trust of the North and we can assure you we will have enough inside information to take Central out."

Roy nodded and glanced at Riza. "Sounds like a plan, I think it would be best to have some of the soldiers who have been working in the North to work with us, we can give you some of our soldiers for your spy network."

Alphonse quickly turned to her. "Major! I'd like to volunteer myself for-"

"Alphonse, no." Riza stopped him before she could finish. "You are not a soldier, you are only thirteen."

"But-!" The boy protested.

"Besides, we need you and your alchemy here to help with repairs if we are attacked." Riza made it sound final.

"Wait, Major." Roy cut in, knowing how the boy must feel. "He has seen enough battle already to be considered a soldier, and with me here I can do any alchemical repairs. Alphonse should go, having an alchemist as skilled as himself would be very valuable."

"See, Major?"

Riza closed her eyes. After a while she sighed. "We'll make preparations tomorrow."

* * *

**A/N:** Guess what? I actually was quick for once! :D Thanks for reading and reviewing! :D


	6. Looking Glass

**Fort Resembol**

**Chapter Five:**

**Looking Glass**

Alphonse threw on his pack and joined the rest of the soldiers that had elected themselves to leave. He turned, smiling and waving at Roy and Riza. "I'll be back before you know it!" The boy promised.

Those words were meant to comfort, but both Roy and Riza couldn't help but see it in another way. Edward still hadn't come back, it took Roy almost two years to come back, how long would they have to wait for Al? Still, Roy knew it was the right thing to do. Alphonse needed to have his freedom, he needed to prove he was just as strong as his brother.

Roy smiled and waved back. "We'll be waiting!" Maybe, that boy was stronger.

Alphonse turned away from them and started off into the dark of night, his small form quickly disappearing among the soldiers.

It was impossible to not think of Edward, rushing into things as he always had, working as one of the adults despite that he was only a kid.

For all that he was feeling, he couldn't bring himself to cry over the losses. No, Edward couldn't have been his fault. Even if he prevent the boy from fighting, he would have found a way to keep moving. That was how those boys were. Always moving, always trying, they never gave up on anything . . . Or anyone.

Once the group was out of sight, Riza turned on her heel and stalked off. Roy turned to follow her, assuming she was upset about Alphonse leaving. He noticed it right away, her hand covered her mouth.

"Riza, are you okay?" He called after her. She shook her head in response and hurried to the nearest women's restroom. Alphonse's words played through his head like a broken record, _"whenever she gets stressed out it gets worse." _In the past twenty-four hours, she had a more than enough to be stressed about. In fact, he was surprised she held out as long as she had. "Riza?"

After not getting a response, he glared warily at the "women" sign on the door. "Screw it," he muttered, pushing into the room after her.

The second he entered the room a swirl of emotion hit him. Where his missing eye had been was flooded with images he couldn't understand. A woman pushing the viewer into a dark room, gunshots followed by women and children falling lifelessly to the dirt, faces swirling past some familiar some not. There were voices, it sounded as if they were far away.

Roy almost found it funny that he had gotten used to these strange sensation, these feelings of being inside her head. How could he, a firm believer in science, become used to something so unreal.

He placed a hand on her back, calming her shaking frame. Riza was breathing heavily, her head hanging against the toilet seat. "Don't worry," he whispered softly, "Alphonse will be just fine."

"_Don't worry,"_ he heard his voice echo inside her head, _"I promise I won't hurt you." He whispered and she shuddered underneath his touch._

Roy jerked back, surprised. He had all but forgotten about that. It had been a foolish thing he had done among many. He shook his head, but of course she wouldn't forget.

Riza tried to shake the thought off, but in her current state, she really had no control.

_She hadn't expected it, she hadn't even thought that something like that could happen. It was sudden, Roy had pressed his forehead against hers. Her heart beat fast, would he kiss her? And why?_

_Instead his lips sucked at her neck and his hands trailed down her body. Was he doing…_that_? But they weren't… She was so confused and with him doing things- _wonderful_- things to her, Riza couldn't get out a protest._

_When she woke, he was gone. He was off in the big city, probably already chasing some other skirt. He probably hadn't even cared._

_She spent days with her eyes filled with tears. The worst of it was that she knew, even still, that she would always love him. _

_Riza couldn't just leave him to the war, no she could not._

"He's not coming back," she choked out, "he's never coming back!"

"He will," Roy tried to reason with her, "you know Alphonse, he's strong."

"So was Edward!" _The blonde boy smiled up at her. He knew, he was far too smart. He knew, but he continued to look up to her. He would trust her above anyone else._ "So was…" Riza began to shake again, her tears hidden from his sight. She was trying to fight it. Whatever it was, she did not want to think about it.

_A keyhole._

_A broken record._

_Playing over and over again the same soft cords as screams filled the air. _"Focus on the music," _Riza mouthed silently to herself. _

Riza jerked forward, beginning her convulsions. She couldn't, she couldn't stop the memories from flowing out and taking everything with them.

_A woman who looked like Riza turned and smiled towards the little girl. The only difference was that her eyes were green and her hair had a slight curl. "Look Riza!" She held out her hand to the girl, a frog sitting in her palm._

"_He's cute!" Riza giggled as it jumped forward. She glanced up, worry showing on her face as she saw her mother glance away. The smiles had faded in an instant._

_Her father stood in the doorway that led out to the backyard. Her mother grabbed Riza by the wrist, gently pulling her into the house._

_They had to leave. That night. Riza didn't understand. It had something to do with his alchemy, and something to do with the townsfolk. Her father had left the house in a hurry, he was going to call for a car._

_Thunder reverberated across the floors and walls of their living room. Riza shook each time the lightning flashed outside the windows and each time the thunder sounded. Her mother, who would not let go of the girl's arm, moved to turn on a record. It played softly a beautiful orchestra, one of the girl's favorites._

_Her mother's eye narrowed and flicked towards the front door._

Riza coughed up every last thing in her. Exhausted she rested her back against the stall partition across from Roy. She kept her hands against her forehead, hiding her eyes. She was trying to calm herself down.

"Did Father ever tell you how my mother died?" Her voice was hoarse, almost pleading for him to tell her something, but what he didn't know.

"He never spoke of her."

_Her mother pushed her into the stairwell, locking the door and pushing the key underneath, just as the men burst in. They hadn't known the girl had ever been there._

_She gave her life._

"She was murdered right in front of me," her voice was numb.

_Riza turned the second the door closed. She pushed her against the door, peering through the keyhole. They knocked into the end table that the record player sat on, setting it off balance to play three cords again and again._

_They surrounded her, murder not the only thing on their minds._

"Focus on the music,_" she mouthed, covering her ears._

"Father found her body on the living room floor, barely even recognizable. He didn't so much as look at me in days until one night he took me by the arm and brought me to his study. I was the only one who shared her blood."

_The room, once warm, was covered in blood and strange markings. After she cut her finger, all she could remember was waking up in a pure white space. _"Such a poor girl," _A voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere._

_The girl knew then, that she must be insane. It wouldn't surprise anyone, she thought, after seeing what she had seen._

_The voice spoke of chances, and of love. Riza had known then, that love was just a lie._

_She screamed at the voice, telling it to just let her die._

"Mother was strong…" Riza whispered, "but she never came back."

"Riza…"

"I thought you were strong, I thought-" _Love could exist. _"but you left me again and again."

She wasn't trying to blame him like she had before. It wasn't like that at all, it was simply fact. He had never seen it that way, the way she saw him. Roy was surprised that she even cared for him. On the other hand, he knew that she was the only one who knew his reasons.

He feared any feelings of attachment because his parents left him on the side of the road. He feared himself from all that he had done in the war, he felt he shouldn't be trusted. He was scared and Riza was the only one who could calm him.

Roy reached out an took her hands. "He will come back."

* * *

Two days passed since the day Alphonse had left. Roy yawned and stretched his arms and back. The constant patrols around Resembol's perimeter were starting to get very old, very fast. Grey wall to another plain grey wall, then back again. All day, everyday. He was surprised he hadn't gone mad.

At least Riza always patrolled alongside him. She said it was because many were not ready to trust him, and that it was for his own safety, but he knew better. She was really there just to be near him.

The best part was after their shift was done, and they'd pick up Matt from the nursery. He felt like a real family, proud that the baby was his son, and proud that she was the boy's mother. Life felt like it had started to fall into place.

"I'm hungry," Roy sighed.

"Everyone's hungry," Riza stood up, waving to another soldier who passed.

"Yeah, I know."

They started off down the corridor again, making sure there wasn't any strange activity lurking in the halls. All of a sudden an alarm sounded, red lights flashing. "What's happening?" Roy turned to Riza.

Riza took her handguns from their holsters. "It's an attack. The civilians know where to go, we have to focus on keeping the enemy at bay." She was already running as fast as she could, Roy keeping pace a foot behind her.

"Where do the civilians go?" Roy asked.

"They-" Riza stopped dead in her tracks.

Roy skidded to a stop, turning to face her. Her eyes glazed over. "Riza?" Her breathing slowed, calm, but frightened. She glanced around slowly. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know," she whispered softly, choosing her words carefully. "but I can see a group of soldiers, except they aren't here."

"What does that mean?"

"There are six soldiers standing in a circle, it's in the fuehrer's old office," she began to speak faster, panicking as her eyes distantly moved around the corridor. "There's some sort of alchemy circle on the floor."

"Riza, there nothing here."

"I know there isn't anything here, but I can-" Riza broke off, her eyes squinting shut as she fell to her knees.

"Riza!"

"The white man!" She shouted, clutching her head. "The white man!"

The wall next to them blew open and Central soldiers came pouring in. Roy snapped his fingers, blowing the soldiers back. He grabbed Riza by the waist and threw her over his shoulder. He didn't know what was happening, she had seemed so sure of herself when she spoke, now she was totally losing it.

"Riza, where do the civilians go?" Roy asked as he ran away. He had to get her to safety.

"Put me down, Roy," Riza demanded, "I'm just fine, I can see again."

"I'm really not following."

"Just put me down!" Riza shouted.

Reluctantly, he opened a door to someone else's room and set her down. He could hear the noises from the battle not far away, echoing through the halls. "What just happened?" He demanded.

"I don't know. But you can not lead me to the place where the civilians hide. I think that if you do, they will know where we hide them." Her eyes were wide, flicking from one corner of the room to another.

"Why?"

"Because I saw them, I know that sounds crazy, but I saw them. And I saw the white man, and I think they can see now what I see."

"You sound crazy, I don't know what that means." Roy searched her face for answers, but he couldn't even catch her gaze that shot around the room.

"They don't know you're here Roy. They probably didn't send many men, before you came we could barely fight off half a battalion." She closed her eyes, focusing on her words. "You can take out at least that much by yourself."

"Okay," he nodded slowly, "are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine," Riza muttered. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes again. "We should get you on the wall." Despite the confidence in her voice, she still continued to glance around as if she were looking desperately for something.

Roy sighed and followed her out. They ran to the front gates, where the stairs led up on top of the walled structure, all the while gathering young soldiers. The young boys and girls that followed them had no idea what they were doing, they had been running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

These children must have never had any proper training, save for a few drills. Some of them could barely hold their weapons properly. He made a mental note to find some sort of training regimen for them once this battle was over.

As they came to the front gates, they blew open, covering the air in dust and smoke. He could see a few silhouettes moving in from the outside. With a snap, the entry was filled with light and heat, searing the enemy soldiers out. He motioned for Riza to take half of their own men one either side of the blown open gates. He led the other half up the stairs to join their forces up top.

The forces of Resembol should have had the advantage, they had height, home turf, cannons, but their soldiers were inexperienced, weak and hungry.

But now, Resembol had him. The tide of the battle swung in seconds. With a few snaps of his fingers, the Central forces were almost completely defeated.

The rebels cheered, mocking their foes as the retreated into the woods. They clapped him on the back, "That's the Flame Alchemist!"

_Well, one thing is certain. _Roy thought as he watched the trails of flame and smoke searing the field between the trees. It was strange, it seemed like much less of an attack than he would have expected. Perhaps Central wasn't as well off as everyone believed. _She can't make the excuse that they don't trust me anymore._

* * *

**A/N:** Thanks for reading and reviewing!

As always sorry, for my slowness when it comes to updating. If I really just charge through it, I could finish it relatively soon (I have 6 chapters left in my outline, but they will be quicker/easier to write). I'm still shooting to finish it by the end of may.

Also please check out the poll on my profile please! Thanks!


	7. Unnatural Truth

**Fort Resembol**

**Chapter Six:**

**Unnatural Truth**

After spending a day rebuilding the wall of the fort, mainly due to the help of Roy's alchemy, the rebels of Resembol threw a huge party. The hills are full of lights and dancing and cheering. For the first time in years, they finally felt like thy had a chance.

Riza stayed far away from the center of the party, watching over Mathew and a few of the other children with Gracia. Roy hurried over, running up the hill. He had a big smile on his face, the past few days had only proved how things were looking up, how things were sliding so easily back in place.

"Hey, Riza!" He called. She had been sitting in the grass, her hand rubbing her temples, her eyes shut tight. When she spotted him she smiled. "Don't you wish we had fireworks?" Roy asked as he sat down in the grass next to her.

"Fireworks would be nice," her eyes darted across the sky as she spoke. Riza sighed and hung her head. Mathew lay in the grass before her, reaching at her sleeve. "Hey there," she muttered, patting his head.

The boy giggled and grabbed hold of her hand with his tiny fingers. Roy smiled, watching his son. His thoughts strayed to earlier that day, how Riza couldn't focus and said all those crazy things. "You sure you're okay?" He asked for the millionth time that night.

"I'm fine," she answered in the same way she answered every time. Riza picked up Matt and handed him over to Roy. "I'm going to see Winry."

_In other words, you aren't fine._ Roy sighed as she started down the hill. He bounced Mathew on his knee, the boy erupted in laughter. "She should just tell us how she's feeling, right Matt? It would make things a lot easier."

It wasn't long until Riza came back up the hill with the younger girl just behind. They were laughing about something. "Hey there Mathew!" Winry squealed upon sight of the baby, bending down to pick him up. "Who's my favorite little man?" She lifted him up, rubbing her nose in his stomach. The boy giggled, kicking his arms and legs about. "Oh, you just have to let me have him tonight! I haven't seen him in forever!"

Roy and Riza glanced at one another. "Sure thing, if you really want to." Riza eyed the young woman suspiciously, despite being grateful for the offer.

"Hear that Matty?" Winry exclaimed, "You get to spend the night with Auntie Winry!" She spun around and held him close. She started down the hill towards her house, not before winking at Roy.

Wait . . . She wasn't thinking that . . . ? He glanced back at Riza, who didn't seem to have been paying attention. Just because she was babysitting, that didn't mean anything was going to happen, especially since Riza didn't like anyone touching her. She must have just been messing with him. That had to be it.

"Come on, Roy," Riza called, already hurrying down the hill, "let's get something to eat!"

"Coming!" Roy ran down after her, grabbing her arm. "Tonight, we party!" Instead of pulling away she laughed, hurrying down alongside him. Roy smiled, she must have felt it too, that something was about to happen and something good.

They forced themselves through the masses of celebrating bodies, quickly becoming caught up in the music and dance. For the first time in a really long time, they just let go, melding into the night along with countless others. For the first time in a long time, she didn't shy away.

He felt reminiscent to their younger days, when they were just kids without a care in the world. In that time, they had danced underneath the stars, just like this, the war and the world felt so far way.

Riza's face was flushed from the heat, the dancing, the good drink, and maybe a little something more. Her hand hadn't left his since they entered the celebration. She laughed, pulling him along in a direction opposite the party. "I need to cool off!"

"Yeah, me too!" They had to shout to hear one another.

Their pace slowed as the came to the top of a hill on the edge of the village, near the wall. Roy remembered only a week ago how, at that same spot, she had been mad at him for the attempt at holding her hand. Now, it didn't seem like she was ever going to let go.

"Thank you," Riza whispered, staring at the ground.

"For what?" Roy asked. After everything, she was thanking him? Maybe she really had gone mad.

"For coming back." Her eyes met his. "Stop being sorry, Roy." She smiled and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "We can't afford to think that way anymore, nor do I want to."

"I don't want to either," Roy turned, swinging their arms between them. "I mean, so much has changed." They stared strolling forward, slowly heading towards the dark grey wall. "In a good way, like," he searched for better words, but couldn't find any, "this feels right."

"Yeah, it does."

They were inside the walled fortress now, just walking along. Every corridor was completely dead, there wasn't the usual clatter of boots or murmur of voices. Almost everyone was out of the rolling hills having a great time.

The closer they came to their room, the more antsy Riza became. "Roy," she started once they reached the door. Here eyes scanned the hallway before meeting his gaze again. "Do you think we could try?"

He didn't need her to explain exactly what she meant by that. His face burned red. "Uh yeah, I mean, are you sure?"

Riza took a deep breath. "I don't know if I'm . . . ready yet. After what happened. But I want to," her eyes fell to the floor, her blush hidden behind her hair, "I want to try."

"Just let me know if something is too much, it's not like we have to," he couldn't find the words he was looking for, but it didn't matter, she knew what he meant. Anyway, his tongue was barely working anymore. Was this actually happening?

Riza nodded and opened the door to their room, just enough so that the two could step inside.

Hesitantly, his lips found hers. He knew not to forget were his was, not now. Roy moved slowly, his hand caressing her face, the other finding the small of her back. They took the few steps back, over to the bed.

His heart practically beat out of his chest. His hands shook as he gently laid her down. Roy's lips worked down her neck, his hands sliding down her side. The second he touched her thigh, her hands pressed hard against his stomach.

Roy moved his hand away. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she mumbled.

He moved his hand back and she flinched, making a sound.

"Seriously, do you want me to stop?"

"No, please continue."

Roy wasn't buying it. But, she had insisted and she would not have it if he was the one calling quits. His other hand moved to undo her pants. Riza cringed and pushed even harder against his stomach. He drew back again.

"Really, Roy, I'm okay." Roy rolled his eyes and went for it again. "No, wait! Stop, stop, stop!"

Roy rolled off of her. He was almost laughing. "Riza, we really don't have to, it's okay."

Riza sat up. "No, I'm sorry, let's try again."

"No way," he teased, "next time I try anything, you'll probably hit me or something."

"Don't be a baby, I'm not going to hit you."

"Oh I'm the baby now?"

"You jerk!" Riza pulled the pillow out from under his head and swung it into his face.

"See? You just hit me!" Roy laughed.

Riza narrowed her eyes at him. "Normally I had to beat you off with a stick," she muttered.

"You're sure you're ready this time?" Roy asked.

In answer, Riza straddled his waist. "Come on, let's go!"

"What is this, boxing?"

"Would you quit laughing at me!"

Roy just smiled, moving his hands on her hips. It was this that he had missed. The playfulness, the little teasing here and there, her pout and her smile.

"What's that face for?" Riza demanded. Roy jerked her forward, so that her forehead hit the bed just above his shoulder. She pushed herself up and glared at him, "what was that for?" He only smirked and she realized the position she was over him. "Well that's all fine and dandy, but I don't even want to have sex with you anymore."

Roy feigned a pout. "How come?"

"Because someone here is a meanie."

"A 'meaine?' Are you five, Riza?"

"See what I mean?" Riza made an obnoxious sigh and rolled off of him. It was quiet for a bit, both of them smiling, happier than they had been in a long while. After a while, Riza curled up against his side. "Thanks, Roy," she murmured.

Roy wrapped an arm around her, tucking his head just above hers. "No," he whispered, "thank you."

* * *

A mist drifted before his eyes. Shocked, his hand flew up to feel the eye that had been missing for two years. He moved, twisting and turning. Where was he?

It was pitch black, there was a floor, a mist and no wind. He had to be indoors, but then what about the mist? This . . . Didn't feel like a dream.

His heart beat fast as he debated whether he should run or stay put. If he ran, he could find something, but it could also be a trap. If he stayed put, he was certain that whatever had brought him there would reveal something, but then, what if nothing happened?

"I call it hacking!" Roy heard a voice of a young man. Her turned and saw a man of his early twenties drawing an alchemy circle. "I can use it to tap into things like phones and trains and stuff like that, and gain control of them!"

The man was handed a silver pocket watch of a state alchemist and a bounded book. "If you do this for us, you will be granted everything you could have ever dreamed of." Roy knew that book. It was in the restricted section of the Central library. It was the one book he could not check out. No one could.

The pages swirled up around him. Roy turned with it, following page after page. _This is…!_

Human transmutation. The philosopher's stone. The truth about all of it.

And, most importantly the _Truth_.

Roy's eyes flicked from paragraph to paragraph. It was like a God, some shepherd that made sure humans didn't step too far. It was . . .

The figure from his dream, the "white man" Riza spoke about!

Why? What would some God want from him? What did that man want with the Truth?

His heart stopped. Roy's eyes widened.

The young man had done it, soldiers of Central manipulating his alchemy to their will. That was what Riza had seen, he had done it, he had-

"Please!" That was Riza's voice! Roy turned to see Riza as a little girl before the figure. "Please, Mom's not coming back! Dad's not - I'm not-!" The girl begged and cried, she couldn't move. She was stuck on her hands and knees. "I'm not needed anymore, I'm nothing!"

"Riza!" Roy reached out to her but he couldn't get near.

"Please just let me die!"

The image suddenly was swallowed in the darkness, leaving Roy in silence. His heart was racing again. He had to calm down, he knew that he had to think.

So…She had said she saw the alchemist-No. She had seen through his eyes. That meant, the alchemist had to be able to see through hers! _That _was why she didn't want to hide, because then they would have known where to go in an attack and the reason she saw that was . . .

. . .Was because she had a connection with this Truth. Through unwilling involvement in human transmutation, she had been brought to the Truth. The alchemist was using Truth as a gateway.

Riza, as her current self, stood before him in the mist.

And Roy had a connection to Riza because they loved each other? It sounded so corny to him, but it was the only thing he could think of.

But what about Alphonse? Hadn't he committed human transmutation? Wouldn't he have felt it?

The toll. Alphonse's toll was his body, but he had his body back. Riza's toll was - what was her toll? Did she have one? Was that why she had been sick, like the boys' teacher? He remembered the dream he had before.

_"If she couldn't find love in twenty years, mutual and understood then I could take it as toll."_

What was the toll? What did she lose?

* * *

They woke at the sound of someone pounding at the door. Riza made her way out of bed and answered the door. "Alphonse and the others are back!" Roy sat up straight upon hearing the news. He was still groggy, barely having time to process what was going on.

Riza turned to him, her face lighting up. "Roy!" He knew she wasn't going to wait, so he shook off the feeling of sleep and started after her.

Both looking like they had just woken up, Roy and Riza made it to the conference room where Alphonse and the rest had came to discuss their findings. He could barely focus on what was being said, having a strange feeling in his stomach. He felt like there was something important he had to remember.

"There was an Alchemist," Alphonse was explaining, "I don't know what he was doing, but he never moving from his spot at an activated alchemy circle."

Roy, who had been half falling back to sleep, perked up. "Did you say alchemist?"

"Yeah, it seemed like whatever he was doing was of utmost importance, the way the higher ups catered to him. The problem is, I don't know what kind of alchemy he was using, some of it looked familiar but-"

"Everyone out." Roy cut the boy off, realization hitting him in a startling wave. "Everyone but Alphonse, Riza, and I." A few protests rose up, but the tone of Roy's voice and his presence sent everyone out fairly quick.

"What are you thinking?" Riza asked, it wasn't angry, it was curious. She knew he had some sort of plan.

"You two are going to think I'm crazy," Roy started with a sigh, "but remember the other day Riza? When you were talking about seeing a room with -"

"Roy." Her tone was that of a warning. She didn't want to think about that. She probably questioned what she had seen, he sure as Hell knew he would.

"You were right. That white man, that's the Truth."

Alphonse's eyes widened. "How do you know about the Truth?"

Roy turned to the boy in earnest. "That alchemist you saw, he's hacking into the Truth-"

"Hacking?"

"I don't know, that's what he called it, but he's taking over it basically."

"Roy," Riza warned again. He was talking crazy. They both were giving him that look.

"Come on. Both of you have seen it. Both of you know what I'm talking about," Roy glanced between the two of them. They nodded slowly. "Just hear me out. I saw this in a dream. That Alchemist is using Truth as some sort of gateway, right now," he turned to Riza, "he's using it to get to you. He's seeing through your eyes. Think about what he _could_ do."

The three stood in silence.

"We have to take Central," when Alphonse spoke, his voice was hollow and tired, "it's the only thing we can do."

Riza nodded. "I think it's about time we give General Armstrong a house call."

* * *

**A/N:** Thanks for reading and reviewing! :D


	8. Blinded and Bonded

**Fort Resembol **

**Chapter Seven:**

**Blinded and Bonded**

"_So, where are you going Colonel?"_

Roy recalled Edward's voice from the last time he saw him. He smiled softly as he looked over the map of the path Alphonse followed to find him a week ago.

"_It won't help anything if it's just our dreams that come true."_

He could say that again, that was for sure. Roy grabbed the edges of the long black cloth. "Are you sure about this?"

"_There's something more important than ourselves, and our dreams."_

Riza nodded, letting the cloth fall over her eyes. Roy tied the knot tight, knowing the result if it fell of and something might be seen. He had though it would be better to just leave her out of any kind of planning or drill, but Riza insisted that they go the extra step.

Roy wondered what Edward would think of all of it. Was the fight just a dream, would winning be of any help? It hadn't been a choice, to fight. There were some things more important, some things he had to do. It was never really about revenge. It was about doing something when they knew things weren't right.

He remembered the determination in the boy's eyes as he spoke the last words he spoke to him.

'_Goodbye."_

Had he somehow known that it would really mean goodbye?

"We'll assemble a team," Roy spoke before a crowd of Resembol soldiers in the auditorium where he had regained their trust, "to meet with the General of Briggs. I will head the group going. Who ever is with me sign up at that table over there. We want only a few men and mind you the General will likely not welcome us. She isn't a pleasant person."

Alphonse signaled for him to get on with it.

"Right. Those who stay will have to keep guard on the Fort while we're gone, it _is_ likely that Central forces will attack sometime within the next few days. They want to wipe us out as fast as they can and for good. We have received intel that they are planning a full sweep, quick and fast. Our goal is to get Briggs to back us and join with the other resistance forces to blitz Central before they can us."

Many glanced between one another, whispering amongst themselves. One soldier spoke up, "hey, where's the Major?" Roy found it a little funny that the soldiers were more interested in hearing about their seemingly missing leader than about the battles to come. That was the way with soldiers though, they had to fix their minds on something else, or fall into the madness.

Regardless, their curiosity wasn't the most welcomed. It wasn't as if he could tell them the truth. "Major Hawkeye is ill," Roy glanced at Alphonse before adding, "so I expect you will all be on your best behavior and keep this place running until she gets better."

He left the stage swiftly heading straight over to the Rockbell Residence, where Riza would be kept for however long they needed. It was probably better that way, it wasn't as if her weird "sickness" had disappeared. She still had random episodes of not being able to breathe or feeling nausea and faint. Maybe if she took some time to rest, she would begin to feel better.

It bugged Roy, because he knew that it wouldn't help. He kept thinking. If what they had seen was true, and they were believing it too, then that meant that something had been taken from her. Edward had lost his leg, Alphonse lost his body, Mrs. Curtis lost many vital organs, what had it been for Riza?

"Hello there General," Winry greeted him as he entered her home. She was bent over a patient, helping to feed the poor man some water. "Riza's just in the back there."

Roy nodded to the young woman an carefully moved his way through the patients to the back room. He knocked twice and muttered, "I'm coming in," before opening the door and slipping inside.

"Roy?" He knew she hated this. She lost the use of her eyes, the one thing she had.

"Yeah," he touched her shoulder before sitting down next to her. "How are you holding up?"

"Bored."

"Well," Roy scratched the back of his head, trying to think of something to cheer her up, "we'll be back with help from the General soon, and then it'll be a cakewalk through central."

Riza only seemed to be more upset. "Great," she murmured. He realized hat she probably wasn't happy about missing out on the action. Instead of fighting alongside her comrades, she would be stuck in here, unable to do anything to help.

"I," he didn't know what to say. He couldn't think of anything at all that might make it any easier. Roy brushed a few strands of her hair behind her ear and it hit him.

He wanted to spend every last waking moment he could with her. Roy had known it for a long time, but wouldn't let himself think it. Now that was all he wanted to think about.

Roy smiled, "Riza?"

"What?" She grumbled, pulling her knees up and resting her arms on top.

"When I get back," he held out his pinky finger and hooked it around hers. Even though she couldn't see him, she looked at him curiously. "And I promise I will," Roy continued, "I'll have a question to ask you, another promise."

"Roy," Riza began nervously, "you're not asking me to-"

"I'm not asking anything yet!" Roy teased.

Despite the blindfold, Roy knew she was glaring at him. "Well, are you _planning_ on asking what I think you're asking?"

"I'm an Alchemist not a mind-reader!" Roy let out a dramatic sigh and pattered her head. "Well, I must be going now." He stood up and started back towards the door.

"Roy!" Riza hissed, "get back here!"

"I'll be back soon," Roy promised, "just make sure you have an answer for me by then!" With that, he was out, smiling to himself. She would be too worked up about that to worry about being left back. Well, at least that was what he hoped.

"Alphonse!" Roy called as he exited the Rockbell residence. Al, who had been petting a sheep, hoped back over the fence to meet him. "Are the troops ready?"

"Yes, sir!" Al saluted. "They are all gathered at the gate, we have twenty men."

Twenty…Roy thought about how many soldiers that would leave back, twenty was a good number. The two hurried toward the front gates. It would be a long trek, but that wasn't what he worried about.

"General!" The soldiers greeted him with salutes as they entered.

"At ease," Roy glanced around the group. Many were young, all under fed. They were in no way the ideal soldiers. The other camps weren't much better, according to Alphonse's report. "You all know how important this mission is," he started, "This is our one chance, our only chance, to fix this country. We all know of the dark deeds preformed under this era's rule, we all know too well of war and suffering." Roy glanced down at Alphonse. "There is something more important than ourselves and our dreams. There is freedom, there is peace, and there is love.

"Today we start on that path, the path to a new era. Soldiers like us from every part of the country will join together to take back our homeland." Roy saw the fire in their eyes. They were ready. "Our job is to bring in the reinforcements. There is no way we can win this without the Briggs soldiers. Time is running short, let's make our way!"

"Yes, sir!"

* * *

"General?" Roy heard Alphonse speak softly from his side. They were nearly there after a couple days travel. Briggs was within sight. "What is she like? General Armstrong I mean."

"Terrifying," Roy answered, not missing a beat. He was more scared of her than the battle ahead.

"I heard she killed a bear with her bear hands," one soldier added in.

"And that she climbed mount Briggs by herself, without any equipment."

"Well what about the story where she took out a tank?"

Alphonse laughed, "she sounds like my teacher!"

Roy leaned forward against the wind as they pushed up the mountain. Each step sunk him further into the snow, soaking his pants and chilling him to the bone. "Now I know why I was so eager to follow you…" He muttered.

Wind blew and they braced themselves against it. It howled, almost like it was speaking.

"_-ssers!"_

"_Too th-!"_

"Name yourselves trespassers!" Roy froze, not just because or the icy wind on his face, but because of that voice. _The Ice Queen!_ He hadn't realized how close they really had come, Briggs was only a few yards ahead.

The general mustered up a smile and waved up at the fortress. "You missed me?"

The blonde woman glared down at him from atop her fortress. She rolled her eyes. "I thought you were dead. Turns out my hopes have been dashed." She wore a bored expression on her face and spoke in a dull tone.

"Very funny, General." Roy knew that she wasn't really joking. He bit back a spiteful retort and feigned an air of friendliness. "I have come here on critical terms that I would like to discuss with you."

"Critical terms?" General Armstrong laughed. "How about the terms of what to do with a soldier gone AWOL?"

Roy blinked in surprise. "I'm not - I didn't desert my post-!" Before he could get an explanation out, the General leapt down from her post. She drew her sword and swung it at him. In an effort to avoid her, Roy stepped back and slipped on the ice, falling onto his back.

His head spun, blackness pulling at the corners of his vision. Oliver was about to swing down at him but Alphonse stood in her way. "I'm not afraid to fight a kid!" She warned him.

"Well _I'm_ not afraid to fight an old lady!" Alphonse clapped his hands together, the circles on his gloves glowing. A wind blew all around them, pushing General Armstrong back and drowning out her protests.

Roy brought himself to his feet. "We need you to listen to what we have to say, General."

Oliver sat up a grabbed her sword. "Like I'm going to listen to you!"

"General! We are at war!" Alphonse spoke in a commanding tone, surprising everyone there. "You must be aware of what happened two years ago. That government we had worked to overthrow is still in place, they have marked us all as the enemy and have kept you in the dark because you are the only ones who could take them down for good." He glanced about himself and added sheepishly, "Also sorry for calling you old, you're really very beautiful, Ma'am."

_That kid is good! _Alphonse knew just how to work people. Roy smiled genuinely, "I didn't desert, I left to join the fight."

The general looked thoughtful for a moment. "I knew something was off," she muttered. Then she turned her back on them. "Come on in, brief me on the details."

* * *

After explaining the plan, the General agreed to lend her forces to the cause. Together, the rebel forces and the northern soldiers began the journey to Central.

* * *

**A/N:** Thanks for reading/reviewing! I apologize for the super short chapter!


	9. The Alchemist

**Final Chapter:**

**The Alchemist**

The rattle of gunshots echoed throughout the city. Central became a war zone within minutes of Roy and Oliver's orders. Handpicking a few men, Roy and Alphonse prepared their team. The plan was to have Oliver lead the attack through the city while a small team snuck through and made their way to the Fuehrer's office. There they would capture the leaders and take out the Alchemist that was messing with Truth. _And Riza._

The problem was, Roy didn't know most of these soldiers nor their experience. He needed soldiers he could trust to have his back. "Hey chief, is that you?" Roy turned at the sound of his familiar voice.

"Havoc!" And it wasn't just the blonde, there was Feury, Breda and Falman too. "Guys!" This was perfect, he could have his old team back.

"You thought you were rid of us?" Havoc said with a laugh. He clapped the General on the back. "It's good to see you again."

"It's good to see you guys too." He looked them each in the eye as he spoke. "I've got an important mission that I can't do alone."

"Whatever it is, we're in!"

Roy and Alphonse quickly explained the situation as best they could. The men through most of it as "alchemy mumbo jumbo" but were willing to follow as they had years before. Soon the team was hurrying through Central City's back ways.

How had the fighting spread so quickly?

"This way's clear!" A wave, motioning him forward. Alphonse at his side, Roy ran across the opening into another alley. The further they moved into the city, the more intense the fighting became. It grew more and more difficult to avoid getting seen.

"How are we getting into HQ?" Falman asked. It was far too well guarded to sneak in.

Roy glanced at Alphonse and nodded. "Through the front door, why not?" With a quick snap the entrance blew. Alphonse clapped his hands, casing the ground beneath them to shoot into the sky on a pillar.

In the confusion, they stretched over the heads of the soldiers and crashed into the second story. The team made a quick recovery and continued down the hall with speed.

The current leaders of Amestris didn't seem to know a thing about military tactics. They had sent out all of their men into the city, leaving their base wide open. These men were diplomats, not soldiers.

It wasn't long before the team arrived at the Fuehrer's office. Roy burst in with a blast of flames. The men didn't even know how to defend themselves. In seconds they were disarmed and restrained by Roy's men.

The alchemist was in the middle of the room. He sat silently, unmoving, his eyes wide open. The alchemy circle was shining, illuminating the room in a blue light. He didn't even look alive.

Roy read the man's uniform, "Major Nelson?" The man's arm twitched. The General turned on the government leaders. Before he could say anything, one of the men broke.

"General Mustang, you're and alchemist!" He exclaimed. Roy vaguely recognized the man from around Central a few years back, but he didn't know his name. Come to think of it, he didn't seem like anyone who had any bit of importance. "You can stop it!"

"Stop what?" Alphonse asked, glancing at Roy.

"The alchemist," the man's eyes flicked to the soldier paralyzed in the center of the room "he can't control it!"

Of course he couldn't! "Shit," Roy turned back to the alchemist and ran his fingers through his hair. Truth was like a God…or was a God, it was confusing. With his suspicion of Gods he found it difficult to wrap his head around the idea so suddenly.

If Truth was God, there was no way a mediocre alchemist could control it!

Roy thought carefully, but Alphonse beat him to it. "What is it doing, that makes it out of control I mean?"

"Our soldiers are dying, our citizens," the man glanced at the others, all reflecting the same terrified look, "even us." That was why Roy couldn't recognize him, because he hadn't been anyone of importance until recently.

"Symptoms?" Roy asked.

"They get hallucinations, they see a white man-"

"They get sick, faint, nauseas, trouble breathing-"

"And a third eye grows out of their foreheads!"

All the leader were in on it now. They were terrified and the only thing they could think of that might save them was Roy and Alphonse.

Roy's eye widened. That sounded painfully similar to Riza. Alphonse shot him a look, he was thinking the same thing.

So they knew what the cause was, they understood the why. They needed to figure out the how, and Nelson was the only one who knew that. Roy looked closely at the transmutation circle, trying to figure out what it meant or how it was used.

"Major?" Alphonse started to speak to the soldier. "Can you hear me? Do something if you can." The alchemist blinked, his eyes moving just slightly over to Alphonse. "General!" The boy looked up at Roy.

"It could takes days to figure out how this transmutation circle works," Roy muttered, "but I could do it if it comes to it." If all that Nelson could do was blink, then there wasn't anyway he could just explain it himself. Yet…he could here them, maybe he could follow their instructions. "Major, do you have any form of control? Or is it that you don't know how to stop it?"

Alphonse glanced between the too. "Blink once if you have control, twice if not," he tried clearing things up for the entrapped man. When there was no response, Alphonse reached for him, "Major-?" He grabbed the man's shoulder and froze.

"Alphonse?" No response. "Alphonse!" Roy had enough sense in him to infer that because Alphonse had touched the alchemist, then he was also affected the way he was. His men tried to offer suggestions, but Roy called for silence.

If the Major had used his alchemy to get inside of Truth, and Alphonse was connected by tangent, then…then what? What did he need? Roy thought back to the basics. What was the problem at hand?

The Truth and the alchemists needed to be separated. That would free Truth to his own power as well as free Alphonse and the Major from it. He needed a how. Destroying the transmutation could lead to dangerous side effects.

Wait. It hit Roy suddenly, what was that that he had just been thinking? Separating them would release the alchemists from Truth's power, returning his power to him…but what would happen if instead of physically separating them, the power was redirected to something else. Something big.

It would weaken around Alphonse and the Major, perhaps freeing them enough to cancel the transmutation!

But…how could he redirect the power? How did alchemists use his power? _Human Transmutation!_ In the back of his mind, Roy thought of Edward. He knew he couldn't use it himself, but Truth still had some power. It had too, how else had it been able to kept contact with him? It probably had just enough control to use it.

"Truth!" Roy shouted. His team looked at him funny, but Roy ignored them. "Truth, can you hear me?" _Fuck. _What was he doing? He was acting like some foolish little church girl rather than an alchemist. He had to think logically. How had he come in contact with Truth before?

_Riza._ It was because of her. She wasn't with him physically, but they were connected regardless. Roy thought of her and closed his eye.

"_You called?"_ Roy was surprised that it actually worked. So surprised that he almost broke his concentration.

"I have an idea." Roy said. He heard his companions asking who he was talking too. Unlike before, when he had contacted Truth through sleep, he was still in the same physical space as his body.

"_I know, I'm God, I can hear your thoughts."_

_Right._ He should've seen that coming. _Then you know what I have in mind._

"_And who you have in mind."_

_It can be done, I'm sure of it._

"_You alchemists and your over confidence." _

Roy smirked. _Does that mean you're in?_ It dawned on him that Truth had probably always known how to fix this situation. If It was God or a God or whatever, then It knew everything. It had let people die because of it and continued to. Why would Truth decide to now?

"_Humans are at fault, so a human should find a way to fix it."_ Roy's heart skipped a beat, already forgetting that Truth could hear his thoughts. _"And you have, good job Alchemist."_

Roy could see a bright light flashing from under his eyelid. He took a step back as the floor beneath him shook. The windows burst out, the ceiling cracked.

"Chief," Havoc shouted, his voice filled with uncertainty, "what's going on?"

A smile broke out over Roy's face, catching a whiff of excitement. "He's coming home."

A transmutation circle bore into the ceiling as if crumbled away, glowing more and more bright. The light grew so intense that for a moment everything seemed white. When it died down, the air was filled with silence, dust and debris.

He heard a cough to his left. "General?" It was Alphonse. Roy moved to help the boy up. The Major seemed to have passed out from exhaustion. Another human shape started to move, one that hadn't been there before. "Brother?" Alphonse exclaimed. His eyes were wide. He pushed away from Roy and ran over to the body.

"Alphonse?" His voice was lower than he remembered, but it was certainly his. The dust cleared, revealing Alphonse helping an eighteen year old Edward up. Ed glanced up at his surroundings, horribly confused. His eyes settled on Roy. "I was hoping I would never have to see your ugly mug again."

"It's General now, Fullmetal." Roy couldn't keep his usual persona. He smiled huge, relief filling in his chest, and let out a shout. "We did it!" Roy thumped his fist into the air. It was done. Now, everything was perfect.

Well, almost everything.

* * *

With the past leaders placed in jail, their treasonous crimes exposed, the government had been put back into the hands of the people. Those who had lived in hiding were slowly finding their ways back into a normal daily routine. There was much to celebrate, and many did.

Yet one celebration in particular had the once- residents of Resembol running around frantically to prepare for.

"Not bad," Edward stared dryly, "I mean, for you."

"Thanks Edward." Roy tore his eyes away from the mirror, only to glace back again to fix his tie.

"The suit looks fine, General." Alphonse nudged his brother, "Could you not be mean for one day?"

The three stepped out of the room they had been using to change into their suits, finding their places at the altar. The boys waved at Whinry and Gracia, whom stood on the other side of the altar.

Music began to play and Elicia pranced down the isles, throwing flowers as she went. Roy could feel the excitement building among all who had come to the church that day. Then, there she was. Riza started down the isle looking more beautiful than he had ever seen. Not because of the dress of the hours that he knew had taken place making her up, but because of the smile and the look in her eyes that he had once thought he would never see again.

Riza came to the altar, watching him. In his face she saw a look that she had thought was gone forever as well. In that moment, and always forever on, only one thing mattered.

In that moment, all that mattered was their smiles.

* * *

**The End.**

* * *

**A/N:** Thanks for reading and reviewing!

Thanks for sticking with this story through to the end! I'm glad I got to write this, I've had the idea in my head for so long. I hope you guys enjoyed it, because I loved writing it. Thanks again and see you around!


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